Appreciating the ranchers restoring the grasslands of Patagonia--and heroes like David Fenton, not to forget his dog Honey, the Nature Conservancy, Patagonia Inc, and the sheep and the wild horses

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Nature Conservancy Magazine

Julian Smith / Photos by Nick Hall

At the edge of the world the wind is strong enough to make you stumble, and it never seems to stop. Constant gusts batter the southernmost tip of Argentina, just across the Strait of Magellan from Tierra del Fuego, where sheep graze on gently rolling grasslands as whitecaps race across the South Atlantic.

David Fenton holds his hat on tight as he gazes across the Estancia Monte Dinero, a 65,000-acre ranch estate that has been in his family for five generations. “The wind is dangerous,” he says. “It can separate lambs from their mothers. We’ve had gusts over 75 miles per hour.”

The wind may be endless, but change is coming to this part of Patagonia, the remote region spanning southern Argentina and Chile. Founded as part of the estancia system imported from Europe at the end of the 19th century, Monte Dinero is home to 20,000 sheep, raised for wool and meat. But here and in much of the rugged southern tail of South America, ranching has taken a toll on the vast but fragile grasslands that first drew European settlers. Constantly grazing sheep have nibbled and tramped the fields down to bone-dry soil, which is lifted by the unceasing winds and carried out to sea in immense dust plumes visible from space.

Today, David’s son Ricardo manages Monte Dinero, with help from his own children. But if the current trends continue, one day there may be too little grass left to support future generations. 

Recently, however, Ricardo has transformed the family ranch into a test bed for a new program aimed at stopping and eventually reversing the demise of these grasslands. 

The project, a partnership among Patagonian ranchers, The Nature Conservancy, and the outdoor gear and clothing company Patagonia Inc., could serve as a model for the restoration of one of the largest grasslands left on Earth. . . .

http://magazine.nature.org/features/shear-salvation.xml#sthash.SdN96Hj9.dpuf

     It can be hoped that with lush healthy grasslands and prosperous ranchers, adequate attention will be paid to healthy pockets and corridors of wildlands and thriving native species, maybe some where wild horses, with their impressive thundering hooves, will not gain access.