Original subtitles

[Music]

In the south of Chile, there is a place

like no other. The ultimate symbol of

the natural world, Patagonia.

[Music]

This environment with its harsh, hostile

climate is home to abundant and unique

wildlife. But that hasn't always been

the case.

Since the start of the millennium, at

the instigation of an atypical couple of

billionaires, Christine and Douglas

Tomkins, the region has been undergoing

a startling transformation.

After 14 years of human endeavor on an

unprecedented venture, the world's

biggest private ecological project has

come to fruition.

[Music]

And Shakabuko Valley thrives once again

at the heart of one of South America's

last great wild landscapes.

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For over a century, Shakabuko Valley was

a typical Chilean ranch. Over the years,

more and more fences went up, and the

herds of cattle kept increasing in size.

Meanwhile, wild animals were

systematically slaughtered for their

meat or their hide or because of their

negative image.

As the wild fauna disappeared, overg

grazing destroyed the grass and plants.

Barely 15 years ago, the area was

totally barren, the vegetation giving

way to dust.

But at the end of the 1990s, the

region's luck turned.

Douglas and Christine Tommpkins, the

founders and directors of the Northace

and Patagonia brands, took a huge

gamble.

Guided by their love of Patagonia, where

they had been traveling together for

years, they chose to give up the

business world and turn their attention

to the environment. Through their

foundation, they acquired hundreds of

thousands of hectares of damaged land

with one idea in mind, to return it to

its natural state through the creation

of a national park which would be

restored to the public domain. In total,

they bought, restored, and protected

over 850,000 hectares, a surface area

the size of Corsica.

Despite the tragic death of Douglas in

2015, Christine continues to push on

with the project. because the creation

of Patagonia National Park remains their

biggest undertaking to date.

Doug discovered it in 1992 and I came

here for the first time in 1993

and I began to see that there was

something very special about it. It came

up for sale. So we decided to go for it

in terms of conservation. That's how we

got started. This valley was completely

overg grazed. It was down to the dirt.

the the work that has to be done to

create a national park is a very long

list. You have to build a team that is

the transition team from ranch to park.

You have to manage it as a ranch. You

have to start taking fences down. So

there's a lot of juosition between the

old use for this land which was the

ranch and the new destiny for the land

which was a national park. A lot of

people ask us why we acquire these

lands, build these these points of

infrastructure and then we give it all

away back to the country. But we have

seen that

over the long term, the health and

welfare of these landscapes

and species is better served within the

public good than the private.

institutionally,

legally, the best shot you have is to

create national parks. And we believe

that it's a democratic act because these

parks belong to everyone. They don't

belong to to certainly to us and to the

foundation. But now they in this case

they belong to all Chileians.

The landscape surrounding Shakabuko

Valley is incredibly rich. Straddling

Chile and Argentina and cut in two by

the Andes Codiliera, Patagonia is an

ecological region like no other.

This national park created and then

handed over to Chile at the start of

2018 is in a unique area of the world

where the dry ecosystems characteristic

of the Argentinian side meet the

rainforests of Chile.

Shakabuko Valley provides a transition

between these two spectacularly rich

ecosystems. It represents a gap in the

cordial era and allows these two worlds

normally separated by insurmountable

peaks to meet.

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Shakabuka Valley forges a link between

the Haney Nature Reserve which is mainly

made up of high mountains and the

Tamongo Nature Reserve which is more

forested. Its strategic geographical

position gives continuity to the

migration corridors for various species.

The reason for that is its fairly unique

geology.

The region's rugged landscape was

largely shaped by water in all its

forms.

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Long ago, an ice cap covered the

majority of the region.

You can still see traces of it today,

scattered here and there.

Despite their rigid appearance, glaciers

are constantly moving. At the end of the

ice age, the ice cap melted, putting yet

more pressure on the land.

As it receded, parts of the rock were

eroded.

Shakabuko Valley is one of the indelible

scars the ice made on the stone. Traces

of the ice's passage can still be seen

in these strange rock formations.

Wind, rain, and snow finished off the

erosion of the peaks. As the snow

melted, it created rivers, the main one

being Rio Shakabuko, which snakes along

the valley floor, sweeping up any

remnants of the melting ice cap. It

gradually filled the path that had been

dug.

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Numerous rivers and streams meet on the

valley floor, forming the lakes and

marshes which flood the steps.

Surrounded by drier, wind battered

ground that is ruled by large animals

such as guanakos, these wetlands are

home to an abundance of wildlife.

These areas of exceptional biodiversity

play a predominant role in the park's

ecosystems.

The reeds and rushes are the ideal

habitat for a multitude of amphibians

and birds.

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Some of the species which were becoming

rare, such as the common snipe or the

blacknecked swan, are thriving once

more.

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[Applause]

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A bit further on, a small lake has a

more hostile air about it. If you look

closely, no vegetation is growing there.

That's because the water is salty.

The salt deposits on its bank attract

guanacos, which come here to lick the

ground.

But more importantly, this strange

chemistry, which comes from mineral

salts contained in the rocks swept along

by the melting ice, has caused a large

population of tiny shrimps called

gamaros to arise.

These attract a creature which is

symbolic of this region of the globe,

the Chilean flamingo.

In between naps in the sunshine, they

are busy searching for food. Performing

a sort of dance, they filter the little

pink crustaceans which give them their

characteristic coloring.

The extremes of this environment with

its unique fauna make the park an

invaluable wildlife reserve.

This unusual biod diversity combined

with the beauty of the landscape ended

up convincing Christine Tomkins that it

was essential to fight to protect this

place from unreasonable human activity.

Christine and Douglas's approach known

as deep ecology consisted of eradicating

any traces left by humans, taking down

the numerous fences, pulling up any

non-native plants, moving the cattle,

even limiting access. The aim was to let

nature reassert itself and form a haven

of peace for the most endangered wild

species.

Deep ecology is really it's an idea

developed by the Norwegian philosopher

Ares that non-human life and human life

have an intrinsic value all of their own

and that we humans need to recognize and

understand that we depend on one another

and that we have to behave in a way that

all species are capable of flourishing.

But that's the underlying value system.

I don't know why it doesn't strike

everyone. I would ask the reverse

question because not to recognize this

is the most misguided position of all

because you're killing yourself. You're

killing your neighbors. So

why would we adopt this this? It's not

even a philosophy. It's common sense.

The question is why aren't you adopting

it?

This work is accompanied by scientific

studies such as the monitoring of

populations of pummer and whimls, a

native deer that is in danger of

extinction. The rapid transformation was

sometimes met with bitter criticism from

locals who were pretty traditional in

their thinking.

Over

time, there's been um real concern

locally. They were concerned about us

not killing pumas as the pumas had been

systematically uh reduced over time

because of the predator prey conflict.

And they call this the Puma factory.

More recently, as the grasses have begun

to come back because we took the

livestock off, there is a kind of

disillusionment

that these grasslands are improving and

the grasslands outside the park aren't

necessarily doing so because they're

still being grazed. I was born and

raised on my great greatgrandfather's

ranch in California. I am from a

ranching family. I understand the love

of the culture surrounding ranching

and I I understand why some people are

in a disagreement with this. Some people

say, "Oh, you've taken this ranch out of

production." And I always say, "No,

that's not true. We have changed what

it's producing."

It's true most of the world's grasslands

have been converted into agricultural

land, causing a massive loss of habitat

for the wildlife.

Restoring these regions is the start of

a long process aimed at achieving a

balance between the human and natural

uses of this type of ecosystem.

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Despite being robust and mountainous,

Patagonia has suffered human

exploitation. Shakabuko Valley's

grasslands were overgrazed for too long,

allowing for a succession of non-native

plant species such as hemlock and milk

thistle to take root.

Over 1,000 km of fences lined the

valley, breaking up the habitat and

blocking important migration corridors.

Hundreds of guanakco carcasses hung from

the barbed wire from animals that died

trying to jump over it. Fortunately,

following an appeal by the Tomkins

Foundation, volunteers from all over the

world joined the cause and started

taking down these barriers.

The teams whom we have worked with are

the reasons that the parks ex exist.

Without the teams of people, for

example, in this park, there would be no

park.

One man in particular has been crucial

to this activity. As director of

conservation, Christian Sedo manages

various teams whose job it is to keep an

eye on the wildlife in the park. He

spends his days rebuilding the region's

natural environment.

He is making one of his regular trips to

a post near the border with Argentina.

On his initiative, two centers have been

created there for reintroducing reers

into the wild. Laria is the ostrich's

South American cousin. Today he is

taking a new volunteer there who will

stay there for the next two months.

It all started in 2014 with the creation

of a first parkkeeper station aimed at

protecting the rears from predators and

any other potential threats.

Next, in 2015, we started picking up and

rescuing any injured RIA orphans we

found on the roadside.

These re allowed us to launch our

breeding program, but it wasn't enough.

We needed more of them and we didn't

have much money. So, we developed this

animal rescue center to increase the

population.

These initiatives have helped us set up

our breeding center and meant that we

could start breeding last year

and we'll do so again this year

since we're operating in a very cold and

windy environment. It's hard work. We

manage, but it's not easy. It's not

really a very easy species to study.

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What motivated me at the start was the

possibility of creating a national park.

It was a unique opportunity to envisage

the restoration of a complete ecosystem

um a specifically Patagonian ecosystem

with all the original flora and fauna

whose natural habitats had been

destroyed over time.

It was about giving this land the

opportunity to resume its initial

evolution.

which had been halted by the arrival of

the settlers with their livestock.

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What's so special about Chakabuko Valley

and the rest of Patagonia National Park

is that it's a perfect biodiversity

hotspot for the whole of Patagonia.

Thanks to the sustained and painstaking

work of Christian and his teams, nature

was quick to reassert itself on the

park's plains and can once again be

admired in all its diversity.

[Music]

In the middle of the plane, one plant in

particular stands out. The yareta.

Despite its moss-like appearance, it is

as hard as stone. This extraordinary

density helps it to withstand the cold

and the wind.

With a rate of growth of about 1 millm a

year, it takes years for it to reach a

decent size.

But the yareta has time on its hands

because it can live to be 3,000 years

old.

Now a protected species, it almost

disappeared since in addition to being

occasionally used in medicine, it was

collected for firewood because of its

heatgiving properties which are similar

to those of coal.

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Our

aim is to make sure this virgin

ecosystem survives the test of time

and all of its species are preserved.

But it is also to develop tourism in the

region.

Thanks to our program, tourists can come

and appreciate nature and admire the

wildlife which represents the best of

Patagonia and its ecosystem.

This park is one of the few places in

the world where it's possible to observe

all of the species that are native to

Patagonia such as condors, riers, foxes,

wanakos, and whimos.

[Music]

Patagonia.

The condor is the real icon of all the

conservation work being done in

Chakabuko Valley.

Condors feed off guanako carcasses that

have been abandoned by pummers, thereby

perpetuating the age-old interactions

that unite these three species.

We thought this land had been lost, but

today, thanks to the resumption of

interactions like this, we're witnessing

the renaissance of Chakabuka Valley.

Once found all over the Chilean

prairies, Guanakos became the victims of

an unspoken extermination that was

similar to that of North American bison.

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But in Shakabuko Valley, they have made

their comeback. And today, there are

over 3,000 of them.

These wild cousins of the llama now rule

these vast windswept, sunscched

grasslands once more.

Their thick coats help them to withstand

the region's harsh climate. They play a

key role in the ecosystem. They are what

is known as a keystone species.

Acting as a regulator, they prevent the

proliferation of certain grasses.

They act as both disseminators and a

source of manure.

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It is the start of summer, so the young

known as chulenos are frolicking around

their parents, guarded by centuries

posted on surrounding peaks to keep a

lookout for the slightest hint of

danger.

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The family groups consist of a dominant

male with its harim of females.

The young are tolerated until they

become adolescence, but once they reach

a certain age, they are dismissed

without further ado.

The Chenos prepare for their future by

copying the gestures of their elders. At

their age, these games have no real

consequences.

But the adult males have long, sharp

teeth, which they have no qualms about

using to inflict terrible wounds.

The dominant male keeps a constant guard

over his territory, fiercely defending

it from his competitors. Sometimes

warnings do not suffice, and fighting is

inevitable.

Heat. Heat.

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This old male guano has finally died

exhausted from a lifetime of combat.

But wherever death strikes, life is

never far away. A whole series of

scavengers arrives on the scene.

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The katakaras are the first to come and

squabble over the carcass. But soon they

will have to give way because the

world's largest flying bird is hovering

in the sky above. The Andian condor.

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At 1.2 m tall with a wingspan of 3.5 m,

it easily dominates this small fry. This

majestic bird has become very rare. It

is an emblem of Chile, a symbol of power

and freedom. Its population has declined

sharply because of the poison laid out

and shots fired by cattle breeders who

still believe condors to be responsible

for attacks on their herds. But as

impressive as they may look, Andian

condors are vultures. Their bald heads

allow them to dive into carcasses to

fish out the endrails.

[Music]

an Andian fox has also got its eye on

the prize, but it's going to have to

wait its turn.

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[Music]

Hello.

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Meanwhile, in the herd of guanakos, life

goes on. The dominant male is soon

replaced.

Christian Saledo is somebody we met

before we started this project. He was

working with the way we deer in Tamango,

what used to be a separate national

reserve from this park. And when we

bought V Chakobuko, we specifically went

and looked for him and and asked him if

he would become the director of

conservation here. So he really has been

at the ground floor and essential for

everything that has to do with wildlife.

We had this special situation. We had a

a species here that's going extinct, the

whim deer, but we also wanted to bring

the puma population back up and the

foxes back up. So you have these natural

conflicts

in in really keystone species. And

Christian is is the

is the architect of all of that. So,

he's really central to to not only

what's happening at this park, but

what's happening with these species

elsewhere. So, yeah, he's an important

guy.

To support Christian Saledo in his work,

employees from the former Estansia have

stayed on despite the valley's

transformation.

They have learned to adapt and have

retrained as rangers.

Now they strive to protect the natural

environment that they once battled

against.

We still have employees

who joined the team at the time of the

sale. Yeah. the the people who know this

property the best will be the people

who've been here the longest and whose

jobs took them all over the ranch.

So, Don Danielle working very

specifically in the high population

areas. Donarcilio who's working with

pumas.

Those are people who know this place

like the back of their hand. And they

have jobs that are somewhat similar but

completely

sort of turned on their heads and toward

different goals.

can't do this without people who are

willing to h to work in very difficult

circumstances to live in really isolated

places.

So, you have to want to do this. If

creating national parks were so simple,

there'd be a lot more people doing it.

Not all of the old posts were abandoned.

Some of the most remote posts are now

used to keep an eye on this vast

territory. Ailio Seperveda is one of

these redeployed gauchos.

Once a pummer tracker, he is now in

charge of watching over the park's

population of these impressive wild

cats.

When the park first opened, he would go

off for several days with his hunting

dogs to track the pummers and capture

them so that they could be fitted with

GPS collars. These exhausting and

dangerous missions almost always took

place in winter in the snow.

Riding on horseback without a path to

guide him and with no means of

communication other than a radio that

only worked intermittently. Ailio put

his previous expertise to good use for a

cause that was totally new to him.

I didn't used to take any interest in

pumas. I just tracked them and set my

dogs on them. That's all.

It's different now. I've learned so much

since I've been here. I like being in

the park. I feel good here.

The salary is better and we get our

clothes washed and so on. We get all of

our clothes provided for us and that

didn't used to happen. It was very

different. There was none of that. Here

they do everything for us.

I think there are more pumas now than

before because before what used to

happen was the majority were tracked. We

chase them away. The best case scenario

was that we didn't shoot them, but we

set the dogs on them to chase them away.

You would never have seen a pummer in

the middle of the path here before.

Never.

For years on end, he rode with a gun.

Now, he no longer needs one. He has

substituted his weapon for an antenna.

This will allow him to locate the

pummers that he fitted with collars

several years ago.

With the return of the grasses and the

pulling down of fences, herds of

guanakos soon built up again, providing

abundant food stuff for these super

predators. After 14 years of monitoring

them, we now know that thanks to the

return of these herbivores, there has

been a marked increase in the number of

pumas here. And they are once again

playing their part in the natural

selection of guanakos. By killing those

who are sick or weak, they are

contributing to the overall good health

of the guanako population in the park.

At the end of the day, we're responsible

for what you see here. We need to

monitor everything and trust our

instincts.

We need to keep an eye on the guanoo and

monitor how many of them are killed by

pummers. My boss, Don Christian, has

entrusted that job to me.

In addition to his antenna, Ailio uses

hidden cameras to monitor the presence

of these animals.

Thanks to his knowledge of the terrain

and the animals habits, he can record

behavior that would be virtually

impossible to see with the naked eye.

He places his cameras in strategic

places and then comes back to collect

them several days later.

[Music]

Heat. Heat.

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Yeah.

[Applause]

[Music]

Better call.

roll.

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Dollar

roll.

[Music]

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Back on the plane, life goes on as

usual.

The remnants of the pummer's meal have

attracted a strange looking animal.

With its supple yet robust canopace

protecting it from predators, the big

hairy armadillo is nonchalantly

scuttling about in search of food under

the watchful eye of other local

inhabitants.

The armadillo is generally the last to

get its hands on the carcasses left by

other scavengers. Luckily, it likes very

dried out meat.

[Music]

Once it has finished its mouthful, the

armadillo scuttles off to explore its

territory in search of insects and other

lava, which it will unearth with the

help of its powerful claws.

[Music]

Higher up, the mountain slopes that are

more exposed to rainfall are covered

with forests. That's where Danielle

Velasquez Romero works.

He spends every day in the forest with

his son, looking for an extremely rare

member of the deer family, the Hu.

Even with the help of an antenna, it

will take him several hours of walking.

despite his vast knowledge of the

mountains to find this forest deer.

There are only 40 of them left in the

park.

In the undergrowth, a kind of lyken that

resembles a beard covers the tree trunks

and is proof of just how pure the air is

in this region.

Once used as bandages by indigenous

people, it now serves as a refuge for

numerous animals and vegetable species.

The forest is mainly composed of three

native species of beach tree and a wide

diversity of vascular plants that are

essential to the survival of native

wildlife. This exuberant environment

makes it the refuge of choice for birds.

But as with any place, certain predators

have leared to take advantage of that.

The Chilean hawk haunts these woods.

It's constantly lying in weight.

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It's just a matter of choosing the right

prey.

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And the right moment.

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[Music]

I am a parkkeeper. I assist with the

Huim project.

I came here in 2006.

I've devoted the past 12 years to

looking after this animal.

The aim of the project is to increase

the population, but also to study its

distribution and way of life.

There used to be hu everywhere. They

were once so numerous. Whereas now the

species is at serious risk of

extinction. There are very few of them

left.

Even if you're equipped with a detector

and an antenna, it's hard to spot them.

They're not easy to observe. But since

I'm familiar with their habitat, I know

how to approach them.

It's possible to spend time with them,

but in order to do that, you have to

respect them, give them space, and leave

them in peace, giving them the chance to

move away if they want to. If you do

that, you can follow them around all

day.

I used to work in the park before this.

I was a shepherd for six years. I minded

sheep.

Now that I have this new job, I realize

that I really prefer working with wild

animals.

I've got to know the huim over the

years. I used to be a guide but then I

developed a passion for this animal and

joined the project.

This is an exceptional project. It's

unique.

In terms of longevity, there is nothing

like it anywhere else in the world. The

project was initiated in 2000. That

means that we've been studying the hu

here in the park for 18 years.

There is still a long way to go, but

thanks to this ambitious program and

Daniel's tireless efforts, the world's

population of ways now stands at 1,500,

and the population in the park is

increasing every year.

On the other side of the forest, the

high winds and scarce rainfall mean that

only dry, spiny shrubs will grow.

On these scree covered slopes lives a

strange looking animal, the viscatcha.

This large rodent cousin of the

chinchilla divides its time between

snacking and sunbathing. But in nature,

danger is never far away.

On the clifftop opposite, an imposing

silhouette has appeared. It's a

blackchested buzzard eagle.

With a wingspan of almost 2 m, this bird

of prey is the region's largest airborne

predator

[Music]

and it has spotted the rodent.

But despite its laid-back appearance,

the Visacea is extremely quick on its

feet and hard to catch.

Confident that her shelter is secure,

this mother can quietly carry on with

her day.

[Music]

which she spends preining herself and

tending to her young.

[Music]

The buzzards have a mouth to feed as

well.

Luckily, a sheep from a neighboring

ranch has succumbed to the region's

harsh climate and will serve as manner

from heaven for this family of vultures.

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

Christian Saredo travels to Pto Ch

several times a week to visit the team

in charge of reintroducing ryers.

He uses the opportunity to take them

food and other supplies. Situated in the

middle of the plane, the center is over

80 km from the nearest village and the

path is almost impossible.

Here

[Music]

the constant wind makes working outdoors

exhausting. The day is punctuated by

breaks during which they drink a

traditional brew known as mate.

The companionship is vital.

As far as the rear is concerned,

despite it being fairly widely

distributed, the numbers have been

decreasing.

This sharp decline is the result of

actions taken by humans.

Made all the worse by all the fences

which act as impenetrable barriers. The

rears that failed to cross them

cut off from the group.

Reyes had almost disappeared from the

region, but these years of hard work

might finally pay off.

In Chakabuka Valley,

There are between 25 and 30 rears, which

is hardly any.

Such a small population is at risk of

imminent extinction.

Thanks to our program, we hope to see

those numbers increase to perhaps 100

rears.

[Music]

We are about to embark on our second

breeding season.

It's an important moment because all the

rears which have been with us for a year

are going to be released into a

pre-release flock. It's an interim stage

before they are released into the wild.

This pre-release flock will be exposed

to predators such as the pummer.

It's a risk, but it will allow us to see

how the rears will react to predators

under real conditions.

Watched by the park's whole team who

have gathered for the occasion. The long

awaited moment has arrived.

[Music]

It's a timid start to life in the wild

for these young ryers, but no doubt They

will find their way in this vast

Patagonian landscape and contribute to

the rebirth of this iconic species.

As has been shown with these majestic

animals, the ongoing transformation of

Patagonia National Park is an almost

total contrast to the general trend in

our world. This is the most rapid

expansion of Chile's national parkland

in 50 years. Today, the parks make up

over 20% of the country's surface area.

Thanks to the actions of passionate men

and women like Christine and Douglas and

the teams working alongside them, nature

is reasserting itself and looking to the

future once more.

Well, my own future. I hope to be doing

this until I drop dead or go gaga. So,

this is my life. I intend to keep going

and

I doubt that it'll happen in my

lifetime, but I do hope that through

crisis, which is too bad, but also

strengthen ideas, you begin to see

human societies turn this long hard

corner

around

greed and hubris and find themselves

very happy and fulfilled

while they live in balance with nature.

It's not it's not a big dream. It's just

a difficult one.

That's it.

[Music]

Heat.

[Music]

[Applause]

Heat.

[Music]

[Applause]

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[Music]

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Heat. Hey, Heat.

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