At each of our conservation projects, the goal is to recover healthy populations of all native species. As naturalist Lois Crisler once wrote, “landscape without wildlife is merely scenery.” Today’s conservation science reveals that in some cases simply preserving land will not ensure an ecosystem’s health. Often, we must take active steps to recover—and even reintroduce—keystone species to reassemble the food web and sustain biodiversity.
These parklands feel wild, but in each one, humans have, in some ways, distorted the balance of native species: introducing exotic species, killing pumas, degrading habitat... The list goes on. In parallel with land conservation efforts, teams of biologists and wildlife specialists are hard at work repairing this past damage and fighting for species on the brink of extinction.
In the Iberá wetlands of northeastern Argentina, The Conservation Land Trust has developed a rewilding program to bring back extirpated species. During the last century, hunting and habitat loss have caused several mammalian species to disappear. We have reintroduced species absent from this area for decades, such as the giant anteater and pampas deer. Next up is bringing back the jaguar in the world’s first jaguar reintroduction project. Finally, reintroducing peccaries, tapirs and giant otters would complete the list of major lost mammals to the Iberá wetlands.
At Conservacion Patagonica’s Patagonia National Park project, the top wildlife priority is recovering the population of huemul deer, which are highly endangered with only 1500 left in the world. Monitoring the puma population serves as a critical corollary to huemul investigations and informs conservation strategies around this top predator. In parallel, we have developed programs to protect other imperiled species, such as the ñandú (Lesser rhea).
Learn more about our wildlife recovery projects: