Reforestation of Degraded Lands in Valle California, Patagonia, Chile

What the project does.

This innovative project is located in the Patagonia region in southern Chile working to restore native and exotic vegetation in an area used extensively for grazing cattle. Between the 1930’s and 1960’s, major fires were set in order to clear land for cattle, which resulted in an irreversible change in the composition of affected ecosystems, with obvious soil erosion and habitat fragmentation.

The reforestation activities began in 2010, where nearly 57 ha spread over twenty areas were forested, establishing plantations of native Nothofagus genus species, such as the Coihue (N. betuloides) and Ñirre (N. antarctica) in areas that were previously without any tree cover. The use of native Chilean tree species is what differentiates this grouped project from any reforestation project currently proposed or implemented in Chile.

The project area is now in the process of legal land designation changes to create a permanent conservation easement that will protect the regeneration and reforestation in perpetuity.

ARR (Afforestation, Reforestation, Revegetation)