THE WORLD CAN BE
MORE WILD B E AU T I F U L & EQ U I TA B L E
Dear Friends and Colleagues, Here we are, headlong into one of the most globally unstable and disruptive times many of us have experienced. On the other hand, we have also seen that, given extreme circumstances, we are capable of changing the way we live, at a velocity I would never have imagined possible. This tells me that global citizens have what it takes to commit ourselves to changing the course of our future. We at Tompkins Conservation remain committed and sharply focused on what we do
WITH SO MUCH TO LOSE, best — protecting wildlands, regenerating degraded landscapes, rewilding species that have gone missing, and connecting people to good and necessary work. Our long-time, highly experienced partner teams at Rewilding Argentina and Tompkins Conservation Chile continue to focus on strategies and their execution every day, all in service to our shared vision of a world that is more wild, more beautiful and more equitable. I am happy to tell you that we are also working to expand our impact beyond Chile and Argentina, through sharing our vision, approach and experience with others who are rewilding places and communities throughout the Americas. No great nation deprives its citizens of their fundamental right to clean air, clean water and vibrant, beautiful land — with abundant, wild nature. No great nation destroys the diversity of life from which true, meaningful wealth is sustained. So, we ask you to join us in the pursuit of seeing jaguars, giant otters, huemul deer and several other extirpated species roam free again in Argentina and Chile. Join us in placing millions of acres of terrestrial and marine territories into permanent protection. Join us as we work with local and regional communities toward creating long-term economic development through the outcomes of conservation. We know the clock of opportunity is ticking and are working at scale and high velocity. We know this is possible. We have lived it. Thank you for all you do for our work, and for all life. I send you my warmest regards,
COFOUNDERS Douglas Tompkins (1943–2015), Kristine Tompkins BOARD OF DIRECTORS Peter Buckley, Tom Butler, Yvon Chouinard, Malinda Chouinard, Jib Ellison, Quincey Tompkins Imhoff, Rick Ridgeway, Debbie Ryker, Kristine Tompkins ADVISORY COUNCIL Forrest Berkley, Christina Desser, Chris Evans, Tony Hansen, Nicolás Ibañez, Jr., Nadine Lehner, Scott Malkin, Jim Sano, Nancy Schaub, John van der Stricht, Heather Loomis-Tighe
WE CAN’T LOSE FOCUS .
COVER PHOTO: HERNÁN POVEDANO, THIS PAGE: The semiaquatic capybara, the world's largest rodent, often makes a convenient perch for local birds. PHOTO: MATIAS REBAK
B O L I V I A
Jujuy
TO M P K I N S C O N S E R VAT I O N
EL I MPENET RAB L E N AT I ON A L PA RK
Antofagasta
PARKS CREATION & REWILDING EFFORTS
IN ARG ENTINA & CHILE
Salta Tucumán
Atacama
KEY
Catamarca
Santiago del Estero
Giant anteater
Bare-faced curassow
PAC I F I C OCEAN
Coquimbo
Huemul deer Darwin’s rhea Puma Guanaco Pampas cat
Andean condor
National Parks, Parks and Projects - Chile National Parks, Parks and Projects - Argentina Terrestrial Parks and Protected Areas Biosphere Reserve (terrestrial area) Marine Parks and Protected Areas
San Luis
I B ERÁ N AT I ON A L PA RK U R U G U A Y
Mendoza
C H I L E
Maule
Ñuble
Buenos Aires
Biobío
HORNOPIRÉN N AT I O NA L PA R K PUM A L Í N DOU G LAS TO M P K I N S N ATI O NA L PA R K
Araucanía
La Pampa Neuquén
Los Ríos
A R G E N T I N A Río Negro
Los Lagos
CO R COVA D O N ATI O NA L PA R K Chubut
ME L I M OY U N AT I O NA L PA R K
Geoffroy’s cat Wolffsohn’s vizcacha
Entre Ríos
Córdoba
O´Higgins
Giant otter Red-footed turtle
Santa Fé
Santiago
Marsh deer
Jaguar
Mis
Corrientes
San Juan
Valparaíso
Red-legged seriema
Red-and-green macaw
Chaco
La Rioja
Pampas deer Collared peccary
P A R A G
Formosa
IS LA MAG DA L E N A N ATI O NA L PA R K
PATAG O N I A A ZUL PR OJ ECT
Aysén
PATAG O N I A PA R K
C E RRO CASTI L LO N ATI O N AL PA R K & FU TU RE E X PA NS I O N PATAG O N I A Magallanes N ATI O N AL PA R K & FU TU RE E X PA NS I O N K AW ÉS QA R N ATI O N A L PA R K CAPE F R OWA R D FUTURE NETWORK OF MARINE PROTECTED AREAS Y E N D EG A I A NAT I O NA L PA R K
P E R I TO M O R E N O NAT I O NA L PA R K Santa Cruz
M O N TE L EÓ N NAT I O NA L PA R K Islas Malvinas Tierra del Fuego
P E N Í N S U L A MI T RE F U T U R E PR OT ECT E D A RE A N AMUNCURÁ- BANCO B URDWOOD I I MA R I N E N AT I ON A L PA RK YAG A N ES MA R I NE NAT I O NAL PA RK
WHO WE ARE Tompkins Conservation — founded by the late Douglas Tompkins (1943–2015) and his wife Kristine, both business leaders from Patagonia, The North Face, and Esprit — is a small, determined, dedicated team working since 1992 to confront the twin crises facing life on Earth: Climate chaos and collapsing ecosystems.
U A Y
iones
B R A Z I L
AT L A N T I C OCEAN
We are a family of activists, advocates, biologists and builders who, for more than a quarter century, have worked on the ground from northern Argentina to southern Chile, creating landscape-scale conservation projects and restoring a full complement of native species to imperiled areas. Everything we do follows from a set of deeply held beliefs: • All life has intrinsic value • It’s unethical for humans to cause other species to go extinct • The grave challenges facing life on Earth call us to urgent action
15
NATIONAL PARKS CREATED OR EXPANDED
2
M ARINE NATIONAL PARKS CREATED
14+
MILLION ACRES PROTECTED (LAND)
30+
MILLION ACRES PROTECTED (SEA)
• People who care can make a difference and reorient our future toward beauty and ecological health
GROUNDWORK WHAT WE’VE DONE Tompkins Conservation has been working with governments, private entities, local communities and partners like you to create permanently protected parklands, protect and restore wildlife, promote regenerative agriculture, and prove that national parks and other protected areas are economic drivers for people living nearby. We are fiercely committed to results and it bears out in our work: over 14.5 million acres protected, rebounding wildlife populations, and expanding economic opportunity in park gateway communities. These results are tangible, measurable and — perhaps most important — replicable around the globe.
20+
CONSERVATION AND MONITORING PROJECTS
SEE A COMPLETE TIMELINE OF THE PROJECTS WE’VE UNDERTAKEN, COMPLETED, OR ARE WORKING ON NOW.
tompkinsconservation.org
T H E A R C O F CO N S ERVAT I O N The ambitious scope of our work means Tompkins Conservation must constantly evaluate which projects need our near future. Both of these projects represent how we work: Concentrate on the core objectives that must succeed
JAGUAR CORRIDOR: NORTHERN ARGENTINA The Iberá wetlands, in northeast Argentina’s Corrientes province, is a biological jewel of lagoons and reservoirs connecting neighboring biomes. They support an estimated 30 percent of Argentina’s known wildlife species, and once teemed with red-and-green macaw, giant otter, jaguar, giant anteater, tapir, puma and Pampas deer, to name a few. During the twentieth century, the province saw devastating environmental deterioration from intensive agriculture, logging, hunting and poaching that resulted in a catastrophic loss of wildlife. Many integral species essentially vanished, including the jaguar. Just 200 Argentine jaguars remain — a precipitously small number. They live in two distinct and disconnected populations in the northwestern and northeastern corners of the country. The cats’ fragmented distribution separates potential mates from one another. Argentine jaguars are critically endangered. But if we act, we can save them. The Jaguar Corridor Initiative seeks to establish a network of protected areas and threat-free corridors through which the cats may disperse and find genetically suitable mates between four national parks: Baritú, Iguazú, El Impenetrable (Gran Chaco) and Iberá. Our experimental breeding facility in the Iberá wetlands is the first of its kind in the world and has already successfully welcomed two jaguar cubs into the world. This pair represents the future of the species in the region, a future where jaguars can roam unrestricted along natural byways to find each other and reproduce in a fully restored ecosystem. This in turn will become the cornerstone of new local economies, respectful of nature and based on wildlife watching — with jaguar sightings as an intriguing possibility.
Bringing back top predators like the jaguar is a crucial step in rebuilding important ecosystems in Argentina.. PHOTO: HERNÁN POVEDANO
IS LONG . SO WHAT’ S NE X T? immediate focus to fortify our future goals. We’ve identified two key projects critical to our continued work in the in order that the much larger strategy involving greater territory and many additional species may be achieved.
HUEMUL CORRIDOR: CERRO CASTILLO, CHILE Huemul deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus) are endemic to Andean Patagonia, and one of the most endangered large land mammals on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Their population has dropped to roughly 1,500 individuals in total — just one percent of the species’ historical numbers. Habitat loss and fragmentation, disease, dog attacks, and poaching remain major threats. The huemul is a national patrimony found on Chile's coat of arms alongside the Andean condor, and is intimately linked to the Chilean identity. It is also an umbrella species whose presence significantly aids broader ecosystem health. The huemul's conservation guides our strategic planning throughout Chilean Patagonia. Without bold and immediate intervention, the huemul will soon be gone. In 2017, Tompkins Conservation and the Chilean government created the 752,504-acre Patagonia National Park (PNP). Since then, Tompkins Conservation has worked within the park to avert the huemul’s extinction. After assembling a team of huemul experts and establishing a monitoring and recovery program, we’ve seen at least 10 percent of the existing huemul population rebound. Now, we have a chance to replicate and scale this success in other key areas of the Route of Parks of Patagonia. Nearby to PNP, the 354,601-acre Cerro Castillo National Park (CCNP) contains an important huemul subpopulation. An area of about 1,000 privately held acres at the core of CCNP is the main entrance into the park of illegal cattle, a source of bacteria and parasites that sicken the huemul. Working with the agency that oversees national parks (CONAF), the Chilean Wildlife and Livestock Agency, and the people of Cerro Castillo, we want to purchase and protect this crucial huemul habitat and restore health and connectivity between populations — using techniques, methods and programs that we know work, based on our success in PNP. Success in Cerro Castillo will herald the feasibility of a larger-scale, national huemul corridor project in the future.
With 1,500 individuals left in the wild, the huemul is critically endangered. Its survival is a bellwether for many other species in Chile. PHOTO: BETH WALD
We are what we do. Individual actions can combine to effect large-scale change for a healthier world.. PHOTO: BETH WALD
We are living in tumultuous times. While the planet staggers under the strain of human consumption and deep and persistent environmental damage, a global pandemic and widespread social upheaval have shaken daily life and long-held norms across the globe. The world as we have known it is in a state of profound change. So why support Tompkins Conservation work now? Because only action combats despair and bends the current trend away from destruction and toward ecological health and beauty.
THE ONLY PATH TO A HEALTHIER, MORE EQUITABLE FUTURE IS THROUGH ACTION. This period of transformation is neither the first nor the last the world will see, and more than ever a focus on positive, restorative work is paramount. In fact, the United Nations has declared the next 10 years the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration ("Preventing, halting and reversing the degradation of ecosystems worldwide."). Despite our very real human concerns, the natural world carries on with an importance far broader than our short time of residence. At Tompkins Conservation, we believe that, in ways large and small, every person can help reorient the trajectory of life on Earth toward diversity, wildness, and health. With discipline and dedication, good work can go on. We can continue the crucial conservation of places and species of planetary importance, restoring, step-by-step, ecological processes key to long-term global resilience. On the ground or from afar, there is work to be done. We only have to decide to do it. To ensure and sustain a more beautiful, wild and equitable world, we invite you to join our efforts.
WE APPROACH OUR STATED GOALS WITH A THREEPRONGED REWILDING STRATEGY THAT OVER THE YEARS HAS PROVEN EFFECTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE:
PL ACE S • SPECIE S • PEOPLE
Together, the countries of Chile and Argentina form one of the most beautiful, diverse and abundant regions of our world. Tompkins Conservation has led successful efforts to create or expand 15 national parks here, protecting more than 14.5 million acres. We know national parks are the most durable way to protect wildlife habitat and help people reconnect with nature. Our late founder Doug Tompkins called them “the gold standard of conservation in these days of severe ecological crisis.” Parks provide indispensable ecological and social
REWILDING
PL ACES values. They highlight the best a country has to show the world: scenic beauty, iconic wildlife, recreation opportunities, and noteworthy cultural or archeological sites. National parks and other protected areas also help counter climate change by naturally storing large amounts of carbon. Their large, intact ecosystems support healthy nonhuman and human communities. And it is a documented fact that national parks are economic drivers for local, regional and national communities. The identification and protection of critical wild areas is a cornerstone of Tompkins Conservation’s work. Flamingos, as well as hundreds of other species, thrive in the protected wilds of Patagonia National Park. A sea of clouds surrounds the glacier-covered volcano of Michinmahuida, Pumalín Douglas Tompkins National Park, Chile.
PHOTO AT LEFT: ANTONIO VIZCAINO, PHOTO ABOVE: LINDE WAIDHOFER
PHOTO ABOVE: BETH WALD, PHOTO AT RIGHT: HERNÁN POVEDANO
“Wilderness without wildlife is just scenery.” — Lois Crisler Whenever we survey an area for restoration and protection, we must ask, “Who’s missing?” When a key species is gone from a degraded environment, any rewilding effort must include reintroducing and restoring that species if an ecosystem is to recover and truly thrive as a whole. Tompkins Conservation is a global leader in rewilding efforts that seek to reassemble vibrant ecosystems with robust
REWILDING
SPECIES populations of native species. Ours is the most ambitious program of large-scale ecological recovery in the Americas. Over the years we’ve employed many tools and techniques in our project areas to help restore healthy ecosystems. Efforts to augment populations of imperiled species and reintroduce native creatures to their former ranges is challenging but exciting work — and the positive results are thrilling. We've helped protect and/or reintroduce a menagerie of species in our work to date: jaguar, Pampas deer, giant anteater, huemul deer, red-and-green macaw, collared peccary, giant otter, red-legged seriema, bare-faced currasow, marsh deer, Darwin's rhea, guanaco, puma, Andean condor, austral rail, Wolffsohn’s vizcacha, hooded grebe, and lowland tapir. Nearly extirpated in Argentina by hunting, habitat loss and the pet trade, redand-green macaws are making a slow comeback through rewilding efforts. The largest land carnivore in Chile, the puma faces increasing threats of habitat loss and fragmentation due to human development of land.
Tompkins Conservation's work never seeks to replace existing functional economies in a region but rather to complement and augment those economies with conservation-related opportunities. No conservation vision can be successful without the support, trust and effort of the people who live nearby. Only by promoting the growth of a local economy bound to a fully functional ecosystem can an ongoing balance be found. The loss of wild places and species is just the tip of the iceberg of the biodiversity crisis. As species disappear their interactions vanish, weakening, in turn, the fabric that supports healthy, fully functional
REWILDING
OURSELVES ecosystems. Degraded ecosystems erode food security for local human communities and decrease air and water quality, climate-change resilience, and even job creation. We work to empower local community leaders and build mutual trust, a key to successful partnerships. Through active involvement and support of park gateway communities, our efforts model how nature-based tourism can help drive regional economic diversification and benefit local people. When we can respectfully transform a local economy from extractive to restorative, everybody wins. Celebrated in folklore as brave, spirited horsemen, gauchos and gaucho culture remain a symbol of Argentine identity. Iberรก National Park. No conservation effort can truly work without the support and involvement of the people who live nearby. Tracking rewilded species is a key component of success.
PHOTO AT LEFT: BETH WALD, PHOTO ABOVE: RAFAEL ABUÍN
Whoever you are, wherever your interest lies, whatever you’ve fallen in love with —
We are activists for a world of beauty and balance. We are dedicated to conserving and restoring landscapes, protecting marine ecosystems, reintroducing native wildlife and bolstering local economies. But we can’t do it alone. Your generous contribution furthers initiatives
get out of bed every morn-
in Chile and Argentina that confront the greatest threats
ing and do something. Act,
and collapsing ecosystems. 100% of your donation
step into the fray — fight for a human society in balance with the natural world.
facing the entire planet: climate chaos, biodiversity loss, supports our on-the-ground projects. Tompkins Conservation is a 501(c)(3) public charity, and is now our sole U.S.-based nonprofit. Join us.
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@tompkins_conservation —Kristine McDivitt Tompkins
@tompkinsrewild
tompkinsconservation.org
PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM MIDDLE LEFT: CRISTIAN RIVAS, MARCELO MASCAREÑO, ALL OTHERS RAFAEL ABUÍN