PATAGONIA

In the remote Chacabuco Valley of Chilean Patagonia, what was once an overgrazed 70,000-hectare sheep ranch now thrives as a habitat for pumas, Andean condors, and guanacos, forming the centerpiece of the recently created Patagonia National Park. That ecological revival was the work of U.S.based nonprofit Tompkins Conservation, known for its practice of acquiring vast tracts of land in South America to restore them to their natural state. Last year, about 400,000 hectares were turned over to the Chilean government, which matched the donation with 3.6 million hectares of federal land to create five new national parks, including Patagonia, and expand an existing three.