For three decades, Kristine Tompkins has helped turn millions of acres of Patagonia into protected national parks. Now she’s making sure the work outlasts…
doug and kris tompkins, the route of parks was just one part of a decades long project in both chile and argentinian patagonia. over the course of 30 years, doug, kris and the tompkins conversation 0rganisation bought 2 million acres of land across chile and argentina. i am very proud of what we do because every hectare we have ever purchased goes right back to the people of the country. if you want to conserve a territory and bring back species who ve gone toward a point where their numbers are quite low, you have to, a, consult the geniuses of the place who are the people who ve lived here for a very long time, because we re coming in and we don t really know that much about how these areas function, and they do. the chilean gaucho traditionally is a horseman skilled
it s been one outcome from the largest private land donation in history to create a conservation project on a vast scale. myjourney to its heart takes me six hours in a 4x4. so, we ve blown a tire and, as you can see behind me, the road is pretty rough. we ve hit one of these huge potholes and i guess that s part of the story of tourism here. you know, the infrastructure is still a work in progress. but, fortunately, all the locals have been super helpful. for two american philanthropists, doug and kris tompkins, the route of parks was just one part of a decades long project in both chile and argentinian patagonia. over the course of 30 years, doug, kris and the tompkins conversation