Corcovado National Park (Chile)

Corcovado National Park is an preserved area of Valdivian temperate rainforest, high peaks, alpine lakes, and rivers in Chile's Los Lagos Region. This coastal park borders the same name to the west and includes the iconic volcanoes Corcovado and Yanteles. This preserved area has no public access infrastructure.

History

Corcovado National Park represents an innovative joint public/ private conservation effort. While most of the park's area was previously federal land, mostly under the jurisdiction of the Chilean Armed Forces, the 1994 purchase of a key parcel by the Conservation Land Trust and U.S. philanthropist Peter Buckley sparked the effort to transform this area into a national park. In 2002, through an intermediary, Conservation Land Trust founder Doug Tompkins approached then-president Ricardo Lagos with a proposition: If the private lands around Corcovado were given to the people of Chile, would the government contribute the adjoining federal land and create a new national park? The property was not vital to military readiness, and both President Lagos and General Juan Emilio Cheyre, the nation’s top military officer at the time, endorsed the idea. Corcovado National Park, Chile’s fourth largest, was formally designated by President Lagos in January 2005, largely due to his determination.

Geography

This wilderness park of approximately contains some eighty-two lakes, many ringed with ancient forests where pumas haunt the shadows. The park hosts...
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