Pumalín Douglas Tompkins National Park

| Chile |

Area: 994,331 acres (402,392 hectares)
Estimated Carbon Storage: 229.3 million metric tonnes

Temperate rainforest, fjords, expansive Pacific coastline, and the Andes Mountains converge in this iconic park at the northern end of the Carretera Austral. The park is a haven for the endangered alerce tree (Fitzroya cupressoides)—cousin to the giant sequoia—with 25 percent of the remaining population of these forest giants being protected in Pumalín. Thousands of waterfalls cascade down from glaciers and steep granite walls, and the Michinmahuida and Chaitén Volcanoes crown the landscape. Pumalín’s primeval forest harbors numerous species found only in this area, like the Pudú, one of the world’s smallest species of deer, and also stores vast amounts of carbon. To support local economic vitality Tompkins Conservation developed a successful collaborative effort to beautify the gateway village of El Amarillo and developed first-class public infrastructure. Each year thousands of travelers from around the globe enjoy the park’s trails, campgrounds, cabins, viewpoints and other facilities, which provide opportunities to experience one of Earth’s largest temperate rainforests.

Park History

In 1991 Doug Tompkins began acquiring, through his nonprofit foundation, private land for conservation purposes. Over the years, Doug and Kris Tompkins and their team assembled the world’s largest private nature reserve managed as a public-access park. Pumalín Park received official nature sanctuary status in 2005 and was designated a national park in 2018, prompted by Tompkins Conservation’s donation of almost 725,000 acres for the new, roughly 1-million-acre park, named in honor of its founder.