It is good to get back out into forests. And not just speaking as a forester!
I spend a fair amount of time working on nature and biodiversity, and when viewed from a screen it is too easy to fall into a sort of siege mentality. It is understandable really; global analyses show declining levels of biodiversity, planetary boundaries being breached, tipping points reached.
Yet teasing out a global summary from a wide range of local situations sometimes feels rather reductionist. For every image of forests trashed, or polluted oceans, we all have examples of nature conserved, and nature recovering. There are still plenty of places to get lost in the glory of nature.
I recently made a trip to several such places, travelling in the Chilean Lake District from Temuco to Petrohue, and then along the Northern part of the Carretera Austral from Ensenada to Cerro Castillo. My plan was to visit some of Chile’s forests.
Chile and its Forests
Thirty plus years ago I lived and worked in Chile. It was a period of significant political change – the last year of the Pinochet dictatorship and the first year of the return to democracy. It was also marked by a period of change in Chile’s forests. Chile had built a strong export oriented forest sector based upon radiata pine forests producing pulp, sawnwood and panels. But that period witnessed a chip export industry that resulted in the logging of natural forests and the loss of mature poplar and eucalypt trees that changed the landscape of the Central Valley.
Meanwhile, during my time in Chile work was all consuming. On my one trip to the south it rained all week, so I saw nothing of Chile’s unique forests. I was able to spend a half day in the coastal range of Araucaria forests and have an ethereal experience seeing the trees as a mist rolled in and out of the forests. Over the years, the fact that I hadn’t seen the main Araucaria forests, the infamous Alerce, and truly experience the temperate rainforests of coigüe and lengua left me with some regrets.
The Carretera Austral
Less of a regret, but more of an intrigue, was the Carretera Austral – a 1200km road that traverses northern and southern Chilean Patagonia. It connects a range of southern Chilean towns, villages, fishing and farming communities to the rest of the country, which until some 35 years ago were previously only accessible by boat, plane or by travelling via Argentina. A large part of the Carretera Austral was opened up when we lived in Chile and it was this relatively recent history of human connection and opening of wilderness areas that also left me wanting to visit it.
The Carretera Austral could have been the catalyst for further logging of native forests, except for the efforts of a few philanthropists, including the visionary Douglas Tompkins. Together with the Chilean Government they created a series of National Parks along the length of the Carretera Austral. All of this in very recent memory – the first two decades of the 2000s.
Some Images
Here is a snapshot of just some of the trees and forests along the way.
Araucaria forests in Parque Nacional Conguillío in the Chilean Lake District
Araucaria Coigüe forests in Parque Nacional Conguillío
The Carretera Austral, comprising paved and unpaved roads, and ferries through fjords.
3500 year Alerce in the Parque Pumalín Douglas Tompkins
Some Reflections
I read two books whilst on the journey – the Andrea Wulf biography of Alexander von Humbolt: The Invention of Nature; and Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard. Von Humbolt blended science and art when investigating and writing about nature. Simard discusses the wisdom and intelligence of the forest.
I’m still trying to interpret what I experienced in the south of Chile – the extent of the nature, the wilderness, the diversity. Temperate rainforests are awe inspiring, and I think under-appreciated. Combined with the two books left me with a new appreciation of trees, forests, nature, and above all Chile’s forests.
Chilean Temperate Rainforest
I’m left also with a feeling of a discomfort around the global narrative on nature with its focus on nature as being in decline. In a few places for sure. But there are plenty where it’s thriving. And from where we can learn and be inspired.
The bigger disconnect is the corporate approach to ‘net positive’ and ‘a business case for nature’ both of which look increasingly misplaced. We’d do better to take inspiration from von Humbolt and Simard, blending art and science in our nature narratives, whilst approaching nature with the knowledge that it too has wisdom and intelligence.
More reasons for a rights based approach to nature.
And more reasons to spend more time in it.