Chilean Patagonia Community Seeks to Create New Conservation Area

Three people wearing hats, long-sleeved shirts, and pants covered with chaps smile while sitting on a log in the middle of a forest. One holds a drink in his hand while two sheepdogs rest at the group’s feet. — Three gauchos, or cowboys, sporting typical Patagonian garb—hats and pants with chaps—are accompanied by a gaucho’s traditional companions: the caffeinated herbal drink known as mate and the sheepdogs that help them lead cows through the mountains.

Article July 23, 2025

During a recent tour retracing the path of the pioneers who traveled to Chilean Patagonia a little over a century ago, Marcelo Vásquez reflected on the area’s history and the special meaning it holds for him and his family.

“Being here deepens our appreciation for what our great-grandparents did when they came here and established our families’ homeland in this border area,” he said as he looked out at Patagonia’s pristine forests from the foot of a stunning glacier-encrusted mountain. “It also deepens our appreciation for who we are.”

Vásquez, a descendant of pioneers who heads a local public education department, was among a dozen people who spent two days in April on horseback traversing ancient forests, peat bogs, and crystalline rivers on public lands known as Moro Alto Palena, in southern Chile’s Los Lagos Region.

Two Patagonian cowboys on horseback guide a small group of cows and calves through a stream in the middle of a dense native forest. — During the April trip, local cowboys demonstrated how they move animals through mountain passes, just as their ancestors did. The areas are still used as summer pastures for livestock.

The group’s route re-created the journey that pioneers took in the early 1900s to feed their cattle during the summer in preparation for the harsh Patagonian winter. But conditions were quite different back then.

“This area was extremely isolated, and people’s resources were very basic; there were no roads or electricity,” said Pablo Vargas, the group’s guide and himself the grandson of pioneers. “People improvised to keep their meat from spoiling; they bought what they could across the border in Argentina, which had more established communities; and they traveled by horse, mule, or oxcart.”

The April trip to Palena’s Andes was one of several initiatives promoted by community leaders and local authorities, who are advocating for the protection of these nearly 170 square miles (44,191 hectares) of public land.

A person, framed by enormous trees in the middle of a forest, takes photos while standing on a log resting on the moss-covered ground. — A team member from the Universidad Austral de Chile documents part of the more than 44,000 hectares (170 square miles) of public land that lie between the temperate rainforest and the Patagonian forest and host a significant array of flora and fauna—prime among them, the South Andean deer, or huemul, and the Patagonian viscacha, a chinchilla-like rodent.

In this area renowned for its breathtaking glaciers, high mountain areas, deciduous forests, and wetlands, residents maintain cultural practices such as pasturing animals in the summer, fishing, and passing down oral traditions.

Three years ago, community members, with support from the municipality of Palena, created the Protected Wilderness Areas Roundtable, bringing together residents; private organizations such as hiking and mountaineering clubs; and representatives from the forest service, the national tourism service, and ranching and agricultural agencies, among others, to discuss ways to conserve the area.

“We want to protect a vital part of the heart of Palena, expand our protected area beyond the Lago Palena National Reserve, and, at the same time, recognize our cultural heritage,” said Palena’s mayor, Julio Delgado. Today, only 19% of the town’s land is protected, placing it among the most vulnerable areas in the province of Palena, one of the Los Lagos Region’s four provinces.

The Universidad Austral de Chile’s Austral Patagonia Program has provided technical support for the community’s efforts—including research and biological and cultural mapping, along with help working toward a development model that emphasizes conservation and residents’ well-being.

A new conservation framework

The local community is striving to get the region declared a Multiple-Use Conservation Area (referred to by its Spanish abbreviation, ACMU), which allows for the protection and sustainable use of natural resources in designated priority conservation areas, where communities have traditionally had strong ties to nature.

“It’s like a dream to find a conservation framework that preserves nature while also respecting our customary practices,” said Natalia Ibáñez, a horseback riding tour guide and the town of Palena’s tourism manager. “For the first time, local management could end up playing a role in administering the protected area—and that’s essential.”

Three people, all wearing chaps and two wearing berets, share a cup of mate while sitting on the forest floor, as one of their horses rests behind them. — Natalia Ibáñez, right, leads one of the horseback riding services that guide people along the commune’s heritage trails. Women like Ibáñez have taken a leading role in ecotourism ventures in Palena.

“As long as these spaces are maintained and remain equipped to accommodate tourists, our children will be able to find work, with job opportunities linked to tourism and nature,” said Álvaro Giannini, a tourism entrepreneur and member of the community’s Protected Wilderness Areas Roundtable. “Since it’s public land, there’s a risk that it might be used for other purposes that destroy its ecological and cultural value. But with an ACMU, we can manage the land sustainably, safeguarding the future.”

What could become one of Chile’s first ACMUs is the culmination of an exemplary community organizing effort.

“This is a story in which we all play a role,” Vásquez said. “We’re all doing our part at this moment; perhaps some of us are playing just a tiny role, but we’re all doing something important, restoring vitality to the countryside, and gaining a deeper understanding of who we are. We’re doing something meaningful for Palena, for the land—and for a green Patagonia.”