Chile Chico community supports CONAF in fauna monitoring
Through installing camera traps, an essential tool to know the status of wildlife, local residents could experience the work that Conaf has been doing since 2018 in Patagonia National Park.
About 12 people participated in the field day that involved the installation of camera traps in the areas of Valle de la Gloria and Arroyo de las Vacas in the Jeinimeni sector, which for this date, is already completely autumnal.
César Andrade and Andrea Carreta, Conaf park rangers, guided the practical activity involving a physically demanding route among the red lenga trees that characterize the landscape at this time of year.
After an introductory talk in which the results obtained with the monitoring in previous years were socialized, the participants went through different parts of the park, crossing more than twenty rivers to reach the points set up for installing cameras. In a practical way, they were able to acquire knowledge related to GPS georeferencing, a fundamental skill for monitoring.
“Once we arrived at the points defined in the Conaf grid, the park rangers taught us how to install the cameras and keep them firmly in the trees and with an adequate angle to capture images of wild animals, such as felines, huemules, foxes, etc. It was very exciting to live the experience of being a park ranger for a day,” said Rolando Sabath, coordinator of the Friends of Patagonia National Park program.
"It is fundamental to us to link the community with the conservation work done by the park rangers. Wildlife monitoring is used to generate an action plan to address the threats faced by native species, so opening it to the community helps us to bring these sensitive issues closer to the people of Chile Chico"
“It is fundamental to us to link the community with the conservation work done by the park rangers. Wildlife monitoring is used to generate an action plan to address the threats faced by native species, so opening it to the community helps us to bring these sensitive issues closer to the people of Chile Chico,” explained Carolina Cerda, Community Outreach Director of Fundación Rewilding Chile.
This activity is part of the Friends of Patagonia National Park Program that Rewilding Chile has programmed for this year and whose objective is to strengthen the effective link between the communities and the national parks, fostering bonds of pride and a sense of belonging to the territory through various activities that promote knowledge of the natural and cultural heritage.