With the 21st century understanding we have of unlogged forests’ vital roles of attracting, storing and filtering clean drinking water; regulating rainfall and moderating regional climate; storing and sequestering carbon to combat climate change (northeast forests store the 2nd greatest levels of carbon of any forest region in the US); creating fertile topsoil and preventing erosion; ensuring the survival of fish and wildlife, etc., there is no honest justification for further asset stripping and logging in our public forests. If we had not liquidated all but 5% of our nation’s native forests, with over one-third permanently deforested for cities, agriculture, roads and other development, logging might still have had a small role in our public forests today.

But the liquidation of our country’s 1.082 billion acres of native forest over the centuries demonstrates a clear need to place our publicly owned national forests (and many other forest lands) under the strongest protections possible, banning all forms of
resource extraction, as a form of “ecosystem insurance.”

More on the issue here.

Steppe is the typical environment of most of Patagonia, & covers a huge area of land. It is one of the biggest single habitats in the entire world & is around 750,000km2 in size (to clear things up, it is 5 times bigger than England for example). The Steppe can be separated into a number of subdivisions, including the Coastal Steppe, which covers up almost 3000 km, & consists of a strikingly stunning coastline. None of this was protected as National Parks or nature reserves. Most land programmes preservation efforts had gone into protecting the more known pampas, the rainforests of the Andes & maritime environments.

What we want to do is develop a sort of eco tourism lodge; therefore our urgent Patagonian land programme is set up for buying land. With the help and support of our Argentinean partners, Pumas, Eagles, Condors, Armadillos, Guanaco, Small Deer [Pudu], Wild Boar, Red Deer, Skunk, Wolves & Wildcats will preserve their natural habitat. World Wildlife Foundation hopes to raise a lot more funds to develop the project and carry on its aims.

Lot 1(b). Los Pinos. Here are 108 square miles [69,160 acres] of perfect range for wildlife. This range-land includes good stands of Molle forest amidst undisturbed range for Rheas [American Ostrich], Pumas, Guanacos, Armadillo, Skunk, Andean Condor, Red-Backed Hawk, the rare Huemel deer & so many more animals, crucially, with their food chain intact. Small lakes dot the landscape & give animals a choice of watering holes which gives them a greater chance of escaping predators. This assists the well balanced wildlife population.

Lot 1(c). Flamingo Lake range lands. Here are 38 square miles [24,700 acres] of pristine environment surrounding the lake that attracts a great number of birds to nest & feed. This is one of the most important bird colony sites in all of Latin America. The isolation, availability of food & undisturbed tranquillity are the qualities that attract the bird colonies & this guarantees, for the time being, the habittat for the birds. The conservation buying programme will firmly underpin the future here. Birds include the blacked neck Swan, 20 species of duck, Coots, many species of Geese, Coscoroba Swans [the smallest swans], Rheas [American Ostrich], Flamingos & many more.

Lot 4. The Lake itself [see above at number 3] is 4,940 acres or about 7.7 square miles of sparkling tranquillity.

For more nformation regarding the lands, please contact the World Wildlife Foundation.