Rewilding Chile and Argentina
“Kris is a world leader in large landscape and species restoration. Someone who gives all her energy, time and wealth to restoring functioning ecosystems. If you believe the idea that we need biodiversity to survive—and you should—you’ll quickly realize she’s not just saving wildlife, she’s trying to save humanity. If she needs a nap, she’s earned it.”
Kris Tompkins, the former CEO of Patagonia, co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, and Half-Earth Council member, was profiled recently in Mountain Outlaw magazine. The article focuses on her organization’s acquisition of roughly 2 million acres of private land for conservation in Chile and Argentina, and the role she and her team played in protecting millions more across those two countries.
Partner organizations have also been key, helping leverage new land acquisitions; effecting ground-level change like the dam proposals recently shut down on Chile’s Baker River near Patagonia Park; and helping build powerful collaborations with other conservation leaders including preeminent biologist E.O. Wilson, whose Half-Earth Project is working to protect half the planet for biodiversity. Kris sits on Wilson’s Half-Earth Council, a small group of thought-leaders that includes Montana State Senator Mike Phillips. A wildlife biologist who led the effort to return wolves to Yellowstone National Park, Phillips now directs the Turner Endangered Species Fund.
“The real lingering value of Kris’ work, beyond the ecological impacts of her holdings in South America, is to inspire others to rise up and do the work of Half-Earth,” Phillips said.
