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Before Douglas Tompkins purchased the
estate, the Reñihue property was nothing more than a field of acres
destined for raising cattle, a landing strip due to its isolation,
and almost 7,000 hectares (16,800 acres) covered with native forests.
Some time later, Tompkins discovered that an anonymous organization
was trying to sell a piece of land of approximately 185,000 hectares
(444,000 acres), known as Pumalin, and which neighbored as much
of the north as the south of the Reñihue Estate. Said property was
found totally abandoned but the large majority of its surface area
is made up of native forests without any commercial value, tall
peaks, rivers, and fjords. It was here that the interest in creating
a grand Ecological Park was born, and was named Pumalin.
Of the total surface area, approximately
95% was acquired by the Land Trust Conservation Foundation, known
before as Pumalin Forest Foundation, a nonprofit public corporation
constituted and presently abiding by the state laws of California,
United States. In the foreseeable future, the property that makes
up the Pumalin Project will be donated to a Chilean Foundation through
an actual constitutional process before the Ministry of Justice.
Since then the land has been designated
Pumalin Park and its fate is to be declared a Santuario de la Naturaleza
(Sanctuary of Nature) by the Ministry of Education of the Government
of Chile. Its main focus would be on the planning of land ordinances
maintaining its perspective, in the long run, to attempt to organize
the territory in a way that allows the preservation of natural resources
which will generate conditions to maximize the quality of life for
the local and global population.
Pumalin Park covers
an extensive area of the Palena Province territory, essentially
made up of farmland and properties. The predominant types of terrain
are the elevated slopes, thin ground settled over rocks and covered
with beautiful forests that offer solid protection. Without this
vegetation covering the ground, it would degrade quickly and intensively.
The landscape of the Pumalin Park could be considered having been almost
completely formed by glaciation. You can observe large rocky formations,
with deeply carved cliffs cut by ice. Some valleys appear to have been
formed in marshy areas where sandy, fine material has been deposited. In the
middle sector of the mountains large hanging valleys and glacial valleys
open up to the highest sector. The glaciers and lakes that are contained in
these valleys form rivers that flow through the territory in a northwest
direction until emptying out into the sea.
There are two main zones.
The Coastal Sector, distinguished for the development of
narrow and extensive beaches, bordered towards the east by a soft
rolling terrain. In the fjords, the coastline is bordered by abrupt
hills that form peaks of up to 1500 m (4,920 ft) above sea level.
The beaches are very narrow and scarce in these regions. The depth
of the sea in the fjords surpasses 300 m (984 ft). In general, the
sea floor is very flat, which provokes tides spectacular in development
and magnitude. This sector holds the Pumalin inlets and the Huequi
peninsula.
The Elevated Mountainous
Sector is characterized by its powerful terrain with sharply
formed peaks and vertical summits. The region's most distinguished
peaks are the Michinmahuida Volcano (2,404 m/7,885 ft) and the Chaiten
Volcano (962 m/3,155 ft). The Michinmahuida Volcano makes up one
of the three large snow caps or glacial plateaus of this sector
of the continent. The snow is present beginning at 1700 m (5,576
ft) and is practically a permanent facet to the volcano. Surrounding
this snowcapped massif are countless glacial spits that slide down
towards the foot of it, at some 700 m (2296 ft) above sea level.
In relation to the hydrography of the zone, the main basins are those of the
Puelo River to the north and the Yelcho River to the south. There are 12
other hydrographic basins of different sizes and importance among these.
From north to south they are: Mariquita River, Ventisquero Stream, Cholgo
River, Panquen River, Quintupeu River, Cahuelmo Estuary, Vodudahue River,
River Negro (Black), Pillan River, Reñihue River, Gonzalo Estuary, and Rayas
or White River.
The environmental diversity
due to the climatic conditions, causes the park to possess different
types of habitats for the animal wildlife. The most common mammals
are the mountain monkey, coupu (beaver), zorro culpeo (Chilean large
fox), ferret, wild cat, puma,
river otter, guemul, Chilean mountain goat. As far as birds go,
it is possible to see penguins, cormorants, herons, storks,
swans, condors
and hawks among others. There are a total of 39 registered families.
HISTORICAL OR CULTURAL PATRIMONY
The
territory that currently makes up Pumalin Park corresponds to Continental
Chiloe, the zone that encompasses the region from the city of Hornopiren
to the city of Chaiten. The first settlers of Chiloe, indigenous
people that came to the island in search of wood, shells, and fish,
came to the region known as "sea border", the land that is found
between the hills and the sea. Presumably, the Huilliches, Payos
or Poyas, Cuncos, and Chonos were among the natives that arrived.
It is believed that all these people developed friendships and that
there were family connections among them. However, they never established
themselves fully on the coastal border due to the good quality of
climate on Chiloe Island.
With the Spanish settlement on
Chiloe Island and later the founding of
Calbuco in 1602, people began visiting the sea border of continental
Chiloe
more frequently. Among other reasons, an important one was that
the forests
on the island were becoming scarce, and they were the main source
of
commerce between the natives and the Spanish. They went looking
for wood,
particularly larch, in the continental region to commercialize it
in
Calbuco.
During the period of Chile's independence, the situation did not
change much
and the zone was preserved as a place scarcely visited and removed
from the
concern of the new authorities.
The first sign of interest from the Chilean
government to know and explore the coastal region of continental Chiloe came
at the root of the colonization of the Llanquihue Province, initiated by
Bernardo Philippi and Vicente Perez Rosales in the year 1840.
The colonization of this territory, seemed spontaneous and disorganized,
since laws were not carried out and there did not even exist a political
willingness to want to populate the region. What took place throughout the
years was that some families from the Island of Chiloe and Calbuco began to
emigrate in search of new land and opportunities.
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