National parks, forest reserves, and regional reserves of Southern Argentina and Chile

Abstract

As stated in chapter 3, Argentine Patagonia covers the region between the Río Colorado and Tierra del Fuego, an area that includes three major habitats:

• (i) To the west is what is often referred to as the “Switzerland of South America” — forested mountains and lakes, all beautifully landscaped as a result of glaciations during the most recent ice-age that ended only ten to twelve thousand years ago. About one third of these Sub-Antarctic Woods comes under some manner of conservation. There are eight national parks within this biome.

• (ii) To the east of this strip and in the rain shadow of the mountains lie the steppes, a series of descending plateaux dominated by scrub vegetation, with few rivers in grassy valleys draining to the Atlantic. This is the land of sheep farms of enormous size, where the impact of grazing has led to severe erosion in many places.

• (iii) Finally, there is the coastal fringe, where the slightly higher ambient humidity supports a greater diversity of vegetation, allowing a relatively good grazing.

In the area comprised between the western limit of the steppe and the coastline (i.e. in (ii) and (iii)), there are only three national parks, one of which encompasses both steppe and coast.

English version by B. Gut.