Area of Study: South Andean deer

The huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus) is an endangered species of deer that lives exclusively in southern Patagonia in Argentina and Chile, with only 1500 left in the world. I spent the week extensively interviewing various communities in the park, trying to understand how we can conserve the species. But in the end, I learned about something totally unexpected – I learned about humans.

The national park is surrounded by privately owned ranches, who continue introduce cattle into the national park, despite it being against the park rules. To make a living with the large number of cattle that they own, these communities are often forced to let their animals enter the park because they do not have enough land. The result is a grave situation for the park – cows wipe out young saplings, and aggressive bulls knock over trees, displacing the huemul from their habitat. The lack of accountability of the cows has also led to groups of wild cows emerging, which is also a public safety threat.

There are social and political obstacles in enforcing policies to prohibit livestock from entering the park. Though advances in policies are in place, the social conflict is deeply engrained between the park and the ranch owners.

The human impact on the extinction of a species have never been clearer. There are no magical solutions – What I saw is that without the cooperation between the neighbors and the park there will be no future in Chile’s national treasure. The neighbors have a role as guardians, not enemies of the park. But for them to feel this way, institutional support is needed to promote sustainable livestock practices, and also programs where they can enjoy the services of the park, so that they can connect with the nature they are protecting.

Thanks to the Torres del Paine Legacy Fund, I was able to look at the infamous Torres del Paine National Park through a different lens than that of most tourists. II saw first-hand the deeply engrained human footprint