Karukinka Landscape, Chile
- Karukinka Landscape, Chile Photo
- The guanaco is one of several unique species that inhabit the Karukinka Landscape, located on the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego.
- Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
Spanning 1160 square miles, this protected area on the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego in the Patagonia region of Chile is a bountiful reserve of sub-Antarctic woodlands, peat bogs, windswept steppes, and snow-covered mountain ranges. Boasting some of the only high-latitude forests in the Southern Hemisphere, this landscape is rich in plant species, including southern beech, Chilean fire bush, white dog orchid, and sundew, a small carnivorous plant that devours insects. Karukinka is also a showcase for the unique wildlife of Patagonia, sheltering guanaco (a wild relative of the llama), the endangered culpeo fox, the Andean condor, and the Magellanic woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in the Americas.
Established in 2004 through a gift from the global investment bank Goldman Sachs, the Karukinka reserve is one of the largest donations ever made for conservation. Goldman Sachs has helped WCS design financial mechanisms to underwrite the costs of protecting the landscape in the long term. Karukinka serves as a model of how the private sector can get involved in conservation activities worldwide.
Fast Facts
- Selk’nam, the now extinct native people of Tierra del Fuego, called their land Karukinka.
- This landscape has a very low human population and is one of the last wild places in the hemisphere.
- Karukinka is home to many marine mammals, such as sea lions and elephant seals.
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Challenges
The biggest threat to this wild place is the proliferation of invasive species introduced by earlier colonists, including foxes and mink. The exotic beaver is particularly harmful to the landscape. With plenty of resources and no predators, beavers have colonized almost every single watershed in Tierra del Fuego and their dam-building damages the forest and contaminates running water, endangering native plants and animals. Other challenges to the landscape include climate change and the threat of fire, as well as peat bog mining. Karukinka’s peat bogs are among the reserve’s most valuable ecosystems thanks to their ability to trap greenhouse gases, but a steady demand for peat as ornamental horticulture and organic soil enrichment has put this landscape at risk.
WCS Responds
The establishment of the Karukinka reserve is a major accomplishment for the conservation of Patagonia as a whole, establishing a model for combating invasive species, protecting unique terrestrial and marine landscapes, and running successful private-public partnerships. WCS works with the Chilean government on beaver eradication in the region, which will help preserve the landscape’s native plant and animal species. In addition, plans are afoot to build trails and visitors’ centers and promote ecotourism in southern Tierra del Fuego. This will make a wider audience passionate about conserving Karukinka and the surrounding land, as well as provide economic alternatives to local residents, who can develop sustainable businesses around our conservation work. Local residents have gotten involved with us in successful education programs, and become active partners in the efforts to preserve Karukinka and promote conservation activities in Chilean Patagonia.
WCS Projects
While peat lands represent a tiny portion of the earth compared to forests, they store double the amount of carbon. WCS is working to safeguard the peat bogs of Chile's Karukinka, and to sell carbon offsets to help guarantee their preservation.
From the Newsroom
The Wildlife Without Borders–Latin America and the Caribbean Program has supported conservation projects since 1990, including work by WCS in Tierra del Fuego, Chile.
Eight guanacos in Chile’s Karukinka Reserve are wearing radio-collars as part of a study to preserve a critical population of these animals, known for their spectacular migration.