Wildfires threaten Patagonia Nature Reserve

Press Release dated: Tuesday, February 18, 2003

The Estancia La Esperanza, a 15,000 acre nature reserve funded by the World Land Trust and owned by the Fundacion Patagonia Natural was threatened by wildfires sweeping across the dry steppes as summer draws to a close in the southern hemisphere. The reserve was established to conserve the unique fauna and flora of the Patagonian Steppe, which at the time was not contained in any national parks or reserves. Since the reserve was created the numbers of guanaco (wild Lamas) has grown dramatically and a pair of puma has reared kittens. Wildlfires are a real hazard in the dry steppe habitat, and when one approached the reserve last month there was a real risk that the vegetation would be destroyed. A small area on the south western border was ablaze, and dozens of volunteers had turned out to try and beat it back. Then quite unexpectedly the rains came, with over 25mm falling in 24 hours. This is a spectacular occurrence, and certainly saved the reserve. As far as can be ascertained no large animals were hurt in the fire. The small amount burned (less than 10% of the reserve) may even benefit, as the burned area will have a flush of new grasses and herbage, fertilized by the ash and rainfall.

For photographs and more information, please see the World Land Trust website.

For more information, contact: John Burton
CEO
World Land Trust
jab*at*worldlandtrust.org (To avoid spam, we cannot show the email address in full. Please replace *at* with the symbol @ in your email address field.)
Web site: http://www.worldlandtrust.org

 
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