North Face widow’s gift of park land
CHILE: The widow of the man who founded outdoor adventure brand The North Face has made what has been described as ‘‘the largest land donation in history from a private entity to a country’’ - creating a huge national park in Chile, which will be three times larger than Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks combined.
Kristine Mcdivitt Tompkins, whose husband Doug Tompkins died in a kayaking accident in Chile in 2015, aged 72, made the announcement alongside Chilean President Michelle Bachelet at a ceremony in southern Chile.
She told the gathering how a deal had been signed to donate 405,000 hectares of land, owned by her and her late husband through the Tompkins Conservancy, to the Chilean people to create the parkland.
‘‘I wish my husband, Doug, whose vision inspired today’s historic pledge, were here on this memorable day,’’ said Mcdivitt Tompkins, who with her late husband has dedicated her life to conservation.
‘‘Our team and I feel his absence deeply. But I know that if Doug were here today, he would speak of national parks being one of the greatest expressions of democracy that a country can realise, preserving the masterpieces of a nation for all of its citizenry.’’
The donated land will provide three new national parks, expand three existing national parks, and unite some national forests into two national parks.
Bachelet is expected to sign the decrees to create the parks before she ends her presidential term in March 2018.
‘‘This is a key step to treasuring this giant source of biodiversity and safe keep it in the public interest,’’ she said.
The proposal will eventually help to create the Route of Parks, a network of 17 national parks spanning more than 2400 kilometres from Puerto Montt to Cape Horn.
The plan ultimately seeks to increase Chile’s national parkland by more than 4 million ha.
Doug Tompkins, co-founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing companies, used much of his fortune to buy large tracts of land in Chile and Argentina.
At first, his purchases were met by strident opposition. But he shrugged off the protests, insisting he would eventually return the land to both governments as nature reserves or parks.
- Telegraph Group