In 1961 Douglas Rainsford Tompkins was one of the first to summit Mt. Fitzroy in the depths of southern Chile, and he fell in love with the magnitude and majesty of one of the few remaining wild places on Earth. An avid outdoors man, he founded The North Face outdoor clothing and gear company and was co-founder of Esprit, both hugely successful enterprises. But his passion for the land prompted him to drop out of society to live in a small cottage in southern Chile with 150 million dollars in his piggy bank. He became an environmentalist with the dream of buying huge swaths of land and working with the governments of Argentina and Chile to turn wild lands into national parks.

Doug and Kristine Tompkins

When Doug met Kristine, the CEO of Patagonia clothing company, he asked her to meet him in Paris for their first date. She was ready for a change in her life and agreed to meet him there. His passionate vision of conservation of wild lands took root in her heart. She dared to visit him in his isolated cabin in Patagonia and within months she left her executive position and they were married.

As a mountain climber, Doug witnessed firsthand the recession of glaciers. He became an ardent conservationist and formed the Tompkins Conservation Fund. He purchased 763,000 acres of land not being used by absentee farmers and Kristine began negotiations with government officials. The plan was to give the land to the government if they would match the contribution and guarantee that the land would become a protected national park. Cynics accused Tompkins of being an exploitive American who would sell the land at a profit to extractive industry. The Tompkins received death threats and massive political opposition. Still, they forged on toward their idealistic goal.

Their fairy tale romance took a nasty turn in 2015 when Doug died in a kayaking accident leaving Kristine devastated. After much soul searching, Kristine remained determined to finish what they had started.  She came out of her isolated grieving period even more determined to save the places they both had come to love.

Perito Moreno Glacier -Los Glaciares National Park-Argentina

I was privileged to witness the staggering beauty of Patagonia National Park and the wind-swept towers of Tores del Paine. It is a harsh, unforgiving landscape that makes it clear we are a puny speck on the planet. I felt the awe Doug must have felt when he flew over thickly forested mountains with plunging white cascades in his light plane, or when he summited one of the many snow-crusted peaks in the region. It reminded me of the unbound beauty I witnessed in Alaska when I rafted the Tatshenshini through the glittering Fairweather Range streaked with glaciers.

Puerto Varas Orsorno Volcano Linda Ballou

Jubilation was in the air when I arrived in Puerto Varas, the gateway to the newly inaugurated Pumalin National Park. After 25 years of fighting naysayers and negotiating with the Chilean government, the dream of creating a national park system to rival that of the United States was well under way.

In 2018 Kristine spoke at a ribbon cutting for the two-million-acre Pumalin Park in the stunning Chilean Lake District. The hope is that creating parks will bring people into nature and inspire them to protect and preserve the natural heritage of the gorgeous region. This act spurred the Chilean government to designate an additional 11 million acres of wilderness to what is slated to become the “Route of Parks.”

The plan is to have campgrounds with facilities, well-maintained trails, and scenic drives modeled after the national park system in the United States. The information center in Puerto Varas provides brochures and maps for those who have time to explore what is one of the hottest destinations for outdoor adventurers.

Pumalin-park historic donation

Kristine managed to get donors to provide funds to buy more land. She is responsible for the transfer of 14.7 million acres of land to the Chilean and Argentinian government to create fifteen national parks. In the process, she realized that reclaiming the land is not enough. The animals that once roamed the landscape are nearing extinction. She is now masterminding a program whereby animals like the jaguar and anteater are being reintroduced; a project she calls “rewilding”.

Her efforts don’t stop there. Salmon farms with toxic effects on the marine ecosystem are also in her sights. She spearheaded an extensive marine preserve along the coast of Chile. At 74, she is a force to be reckoned with and says she is just beginning. Indeed, she is a world class woman for all seasons quietly saving the planet from destruction. She says on any scorecard you want to cite, nature is losing, and she wants people to join her in the fight to turn that around.

Tompkins Conservation. In this Ted Talk on YouTube she provides details with images of the transformation she is leading in Patagonia and Chile.

In 2023 National Geographic produced the film Wild Life spotlighting Tompkins’ efforts. It is Streaming on Disney +.

Originally Published on NABBW.com

Anne Holmes Boomer-in-Chief of NABBW