Rebecca Manzi A Mapuche community in Patagonia, together with scientists and a state company, has undertaken an ecological recovery project to restore a vast area of forest destroyed by a fire
@mali maeder/Pexels
The Aigo community, a Mapuche settlement in Patagonia, is undertaking a large-scale ecological restoration in collaboration with scientists and a state-run company. Their goal is to restore a large area of Lanín National Park, in the Neuquén province, destroyed by a human-caused wildfire in 2013 that razed more than 3,000 acres of land, about 4.7 square miles.
This was a very important forest for the community, full of native species like araucaria, lenga, and nire trees. The local people needed this natural resource to feed their livestock, to harvest pine nuts, and to collect firewood.
The restoration project has taken a unique approach by summing up the ancestral knowledge of the Mapuche community with modern scientific techniques. During the years, several measures have been implemented to halt soil erosion and encourage the growth of new vegetation.
Early signs of recovery
Fences were installed to safeguard new plantings from grazing livestock, while native trees, such as lenga, nire, and araucaria, were replanted to recover the original ecosystem. The National Institute of Agricultural Technology, INTA, was in charge of the development of protocols to follow the growth of plants and to check the efficiency in the restoration process.
With time, recovering signs started to bloom in the community. Some plants naturally grew once again, but most were tenderly grown with care to make their future sustainable. In this way, the right balance was achieved between ecological restoration and the day-to-day needs for community survival through joint initiatives by the community, local authorities, and scientists.
Challenges along the way
The process of restoration has not been devoid of challenges. Livestock management and land use were quite contentious since the community had to continue using the natural resources for their daily subsistence. However, continuous dialogue between scientists and community members ultimately led to a solution that achieved both ecological and livelihood needs.
This restoration illustrates the very important collaboration between traditional knowledge and modern science in solving ecological challenges. It is a model that epitomizes sustainability both at the local community level and for larger goals of environmental conservation.
