by Sophie Karolczak, of Wesleyan University

Both teams just returned from spending the last eight days in Patagonia National Park performing censuses on guanaco and Ñandú (Darwin’s Rhea). The Patagonia National Park includes the Tamango Reserve, the Jeinimeini Reserve, and the Chacabuco Valley – a former sheep ranch bought by Thompkins Conservation that now supports populations of iconic Patagonian wildlife species. Patagonia National Park is one of the newest national parks in Chile, and its managing organization, Conservación Patagónica will transfer administrative control to the Chilean Forest Service (CONAF) starting May 1 of this year, completing the first big step in the world’s largest land donation for conservation in history. But it hasn’t been an easy feat. Since Thompkins Conservation purchased the Chacabuco Valley in 2004, Conservación Patagónica has faced fierce scrutiny from local people, who’ve felt like their economic engine and cultural centerstone of the region was taken from them. Round River has been working in the Chacabuco since 2012

Driving in through the entrance to the park for the first time, I could immediately understand some of the discomfort that has arisen because of this park. The Visitors’ Center was an oasis of green grass and stone buildings in the middle of the Patagonian steppe. It was beautifully done, but felt very out of place and foreign. In the words of one of my companions, “Are we back in the U.S?” I felt like I was at a small liberal arts college.

Some guanacos chilling at the Parque Patagonia visitors center.

There was a museum in the Visitors’ Center, which was very impressive but left us all feeling a little weird. Every object was perfectly glued into place in a formation that was trying to seem casual, but since there was not a speck of dust in the place, it felt artificial. It was easy to tell that a lot of money went into the museum and Visitors’ Center. Part of the weirdness we felt may have stemmed from the fact that conservation projects are rarely this well funded, especially here in Chile. It definitely felt like we were back in the United States, though. Once we left the Visitors’ Center, I immediately fell in love with the scenery of the Chacabuco Valley. I’d been expecting relatively flat terrain with golden rolling hills, but was pleasantly surprised by the steep snowy mountains on either side of us with dramatic rock formations all over the place.

Views from the drive into Patagonia National Park.

Our campsite at Alto Valle was equally scenic. We enjoyed beautiful sunsets and sunrises every day. When we initially arrived at camp, we set up and began preparing for our first day of guanaco surveys. We were completing distance-sampling transects to assess the guanaco population of the entire Chacabuco Valley. Each morning we were assigned into pairs and each pair was dropped off at a specific UTM coordinate. From this point, we then walked along a transect line (either directly north or south) until we reached either a set turnaround time or a place we can’t go any further, like a huge river or a dense forest. Whenever we saw guanaco, we recorded the total number of animals, whether they were adult or juvenile, whether they were male or female (if possible), their distance from us, their compass bearing in relation to us, and the UTM coordinates at which we spotted them. This allows us to pinpoint the location of the sightings and hopefully remove double-counts. We did this three days in a row. All three of my transects were super hilly, and the main lesson I am going to take away from the Chacabuco Valley is that there will always be another ridge. You are never at the top, and the moment you think you are, your dreams will be crushed a few seconds later. It was a lot of fun though! The second lesson I learned was that guanaco are way better at going up hills than humans will ever be, so we should follow their paths up the steep ridges.

A very photogenic guanaco chilling on a slope during our transect.

After the third day of guanaco surveys, my car was headed back down the road to camp when we saw Matt just walking towards us. Turns out he and Gabe had seen a viscacha in the rocks right off the road, so we got to stop and look at it! It was a really lucky opportunity to see one, since they are masters of camoflauge. They perfectly resemble the bunchgrass that is found in the Patagonian steppe.

A Wolffsohn’s Viscacha. Photo by Adam Spencer.

Each day after our transects we’d all return to camp and share stories about our adventures, then cook up some dinner. We had two different birthdays during the week (Adam and Baillie). For Adam’s birthday I was involved in the process of baking a chocolate cake in a cast iron pan, which we then covered in manjar (a delicious dulce de leche we are all obsessed with), and served with heated up apricots. It turned out decent. Two days later, Diana took the lead on Baillie’s birthday cake, which I am not ashamed to say turned out way better. On the next backcountry birthday, we’ll be ready. We also had some fun dinners during the week, my favorite of which was pizza. Anna, Julia, and Matt spent several hours making pizza for us all, and they tasted delicious.

Pizza!

In between guanaco and nandu surveys, we had one day off, in which we woke up to freezing temperatures and snow! We all snuggled under the shelter at our campsite wearing every layer we had while learning about Ñandú biology and our research methodology for the surveys. Eventually, the snow turned to sun and we headed to the Ñandú breeding center. We learned that Ñandú are very sensitive to noise, so, quietly, in groups of 5, we got to see the corrals in which the Ñandú are kept. This breeding program is unprecedented, so the researchers there have a tough job to do, but the goal is to release Ñandú back into Parque Patagonia to revitalize the population. They even brought in animals from other Ñandú populations to increase genetic diversity. When I was looking at the Ñandú, I really wanted to know what it was like to hug one, so I asked the researcher giving us the tour whether he ever hugs the Ñandú. To my surprise, he said yes! They hug the Ñandú to instill a healthy fear of humans, as well as to check their body for overall level of health. Apparently they have to do it right after a meal though, which is when the Ñandú are most amenable to hugging.

Erica getting up close and personal with a Ñandú at the breeding center.

For Ñandú surveys, Julia and I had one of the more unusual transects. Most of the groups were headed east, but we were walking west. Our transect included the mega corral, which is also a part of the breeding program. Ñandú are kept here shortly before being released, allowing them to run and enjoy an almost free-range lifestyle. When we got to the mega corral, we had spotted a group of Ñandú in the distance. As we got closer, one of them started coming right towards us. We stood still and were quiet, and it ended up walking right up to the fence, less than a meter away from us. We stood like that for about five minutes, just observing each other. It was a magical experience.

The Ñandú that walked right up to Julia and I.

Julia and I ended up walking the entire 15.5 km back to camp, since our transect was in that direction. We had a wonderful break in the middle to eat pasta out of ziploc bags for lunch.

On our final day in the Chacabuco Valley, we had a natural history quiz in the morning in which we had to answer some theoretical questions and then identify plants and birds in the Patagonian steppe. Afterwards, most of us went on a hike around Lago Chico, which was a beautiful hike down into a valley and around a lake.

The view from the midway point of our Lago Chico hike.

Overall, Patagonia National Park was an incredible place and I was sad to leave. The biodiversity here, especially when it comes to animals, is astounding. I strongly believe that the protection of this land is a good thing, but also have problems with the manner in which the land was purchased and the park was constructed. I am concerned about the future sustainability of the development at the campsites and visitors center, but I would love to return to this park in 10 or 20 years and see what it becomes.

Teams Tero and Chucao at the mirador by our campsite! Photo by Adam Spencer.