Puyehue National Park

PK-5 THE AMERICAS Peter Keller is a Forest & Society Fellow of the Institute, studying and writing about national ICWA and private parks in Chile and Argentina. LETTERS Puyehue National Park By Peter Keller Since 1925 the Institute of August, 2000 Current World Affairs (the Crane- AGUAS CALIENTES, Chile — When I was nine years old my family went on a Rogers Foundation) has provided vacation to Seattle, Washington from our home in central Minnesota. This was long-term fellowships to enable my first trip to the American West. After two days of driving across the Great outstanding young professionals Plains on U.S. Highway 2 through North Dakota and eastern Montana we ar- to live outside the United States rived in a landscape foreign to my eyes — The Rocky Mountains. Memories of and write about international this experience are still fresh in my mind, such as seeing the distant snow-capped areas and issues. An exempt mountains from the plains of northern Montana and rolling down the car win- operating foundation endowed by dow to get a better view — but instead feeling a blast of warm, dry air hit my face. the late Charles R. Crane, the Institute is also supported by I can still picture the moment we crossed the Flathead River at West Glacier contributions from like-minded and were greeted by the sign, “Welcome to Glacier National Park.” I sensed we individuals and foundations. were entering a special place from the formality of the sign. Farther along inside the park, as we approached a mountain pass along the Going-to-the-Sun High- way, the landscape changed from a dark, impenetrable forest to “carpet-like” TRUSTEES greenery high on the mountain slopes. I imagined lying on my side and rolling Carole Beaulieu down the hill like a human rolling pin. At the mountain pass the green “carpet” Mary Lynne Bird changed to a color spectrum of wild flowers, lichen-covered rocks and patches of Steven Butler snow. These images have stuck with me through time and have perhaps pro- William F. Foote vided inspiration for my career selection. However, I really don’t know why I am Pramila Jayapal so fascinated by national parks. All the reasons I have come up with haven’t been Peter Bird Martin able to capture the essence. And as time goes by I realize if I understood why, the Ann Mische mystery would be gone and my interest would fade. Dorothy S. Patterson Paul A. Rahe Now that I am exploring the parks of Chile and Argentina there is ample Carol Rose mystery to keep me fascinated. As a Musser Fellow I have come here to examine Chandler Rosenberger the operation of parks in the southern cone of South America and compare them John Spencer with my previous experiences in the U.S. Parks System. A majority of my news- Edmund Sutton letters will investigate a variety of parks and issues beginning with this edition Dirk J. Vandewalle describing the operations of Puyehue National Park in south-central Chile. In Sally Wriggins July of 2000 I spent two weeks as a volunteer in this park, interviewing staff and conducting research in the park library. What follows is an account of the HONORARY TRUSTEES experience. David Elliot David Hapgood History of Puyehue National Park and Evolution of the Park System Pat M. Holt Edwin S. Munger The first national park to be established in Chile was Vicente Pérez Rosales, Richard H. Nolte in 1926. The mountainous park is just across Lake Llanquihue from my house. On Albert Ravenholt a clear day I can see the peaks of Volcano Osorno and Mount Tronador from the Phillips Talbot second-story window next to my bedroom. On cloudless mornings as the sun appears over the mountains, the reflection against the snow-covered peaks pro- vides an inspiring wakeup call. Mountain scenery has been the inspiration for Institute of Current World Affairs the establishment of many national parks throughout the world. And like Mount The Crane-Rogers Foundation Rainier National Park and Crater Lake National Park in the United States, the Four West Wheelock Street impulse for establishing Puyehue National Park came from the local community Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 U.S.A. (Puyehue is a Mapuche word for “the place of fresh water”). In this case, Club Andino Osorno, the local alpinist club, had been organizing hiking and skiing trips ronment. But in fact, during Pinochet’s 17 years, 22 protected areas were established — five of which are national parks. I made a list of all environmental-protection projects initiated during this time period. I was aston- ished again; it was more than I anticipated. For ex- ample, in the mid-1970s the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) under took a series of projects with park officials, including the development of a comprehensive park- system plan, a general interpre- tation plan and individual plans for Rapa Nui, Fray Jorge, Juan Fernandez, and Torres del Paine National Parks. Peace Corps Volunteers worked in several national parks and the Washington D.C. Na- tional Zoo conducted a (above) Volcano Casa- study of pudus, a species of blanca in the distance with miniature deer in Chile. a coigüe (the darker trees with leaves) and lenga During this period the (the lighter colored trees Chilean Government rati- without leaves) forest in fied the World Heritage the foreground. (right) The Convention and the Ramsar lower elevations of the park Convention for the protec- contain trees such as tepa, tion of wetlands — although arrayan, ulmo, canelo only one site has been nomi- and tineo, which are part nated for each category of a temperate rainforest (Rapa Nui National Park — known as the Valdivian and Carlos Anwandter Sanc- Rainforest. tuary, respectively). How- ever, in 1996 the Chilean Government added six more Ramsar sites to protect wet- to the mountains for over 60 years. In 1935 the Club lands, mostly in northern Chile. Even an International purchased land near Volcano Casablanca and began Workshop on protected areas was sponsored by the gov- to develop a ski area called Antillanca, a Mapuche term ernment and held at Puyehue National Park. Finally, the for “jewel of the sun.” In part due to the Club’s active current system of categorizing protected areas was devel- interest, the government established the 65,000-hect- oped in 1984. I recite this list not as a Pinochet fan, but to are Puyehue National Park in 1941 to protect the na- show that you can’t trust initial impressions. tive forest, the hot springs found within this volcanic region and also the high country surrounding Antil- The system used to categorize protected areas was lanca. Six years later the Club initiated the construction of given an odd acronym, SNASPE (Sistema Nacional de Areas a road from the current park headquarters in Aguas Silvestres Protegidas del Estado). The 1984 law created four Calientes to Antillanca — the ski area it still owns and op- categories within the national system of wild protected ar- erates to this day. eas. They are national parks (32 sites), national reserves (43), natural monuments (12) and wilderness reserves (none has In 1981 the Augusto Pinochet Government expanded been designated yet). In total the system covers nearly 14 mil- the park to its current size of 106,772 hectares. I was sur- lion hectares, or 18 percent of the country. Of this, 8.4 million prised to learn this; I had thought a country under military hectares are national parks, about 10.7 percent of the country. In rule would not put much effort into protecting the envi- comparison, the United States has 33.3 million hectares of 2 PK-5 parks, which represent 3.6 percent of the land area. oped a broad level of respect from the employees. He has already gained my respect because of a magazine interview According to Carlos Hernández, a park ranger who’s I read recently. Usually he wears a turtleneck to work and become a friend, one of the major problems internally for the interviewer asked why. He said, “I don’t tolerate ties. I Conaf (Corporacion Nacional Forestal), the agency in charge believe that society is too concerned with appearances. The of managing national parks, among other duties, is that tie is the most perfectly useless thing that has been invented forestry engineers dominate the agency. This isn’t surpris- in the world. I prefer Beatles. They are comfortable.” Be- ing, considering the origin of Conaf. It was created in 1972 sides showing that the Fab 4 transcended music and also when the Corporacion de Reforestacion was revamped and set clothing styles, Weber demonstrated his sense of practi- given more programs and a new name. These program ar- cality. eas include Wild Heritage (national parks, reserves and monuments), Forest Control, Fire Management and Forest The influence of forestry engineers has been a long-term Management and Development. Currently, all 13 regional phenomenon in Chile, according to Carlos. “Just look at the directors have a degree in forestry engineering, and even map of where our national parks are located. They are all the Chief of Finances and Administration for Conaf is a along the Andes, where the trees are.” But, looking at the forestry engineer. map, I pointed out several parks along the coast, such as Fray Jorge, Pan Azucar and Chiloé. Carlos said that, “this is The newest Executive Director of Conaf, Carlos We- just a coincidence. The main reason for protection is because ber, is also a forestry engineer, but in addition he has a post- they have trees.

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