National Park + private conservation reserve · Chile
Torres del Paine
They took down the fences. The wild walked back in.
Torres del Paine: the numbers, sourced
As of July 2026.
- 17,606 hectares burned — the 2011–12 tourist-caused fire in the national park. CONAF-reported figures via EcoCamp, December 2011.
- 810,000+ lenga seedlings — planted inside the park by the citizen campaign founded in answer to the fire. Fundación Reforestemos, 2012–present.
- 6,000 hectares — former ranchland under permanent protection via Chile’s Derecho Real de Conservación — 97% for conservation, 3% lodge footprint. Explora; The Nature Conservancy, 2025.
- 131 plants, 50 birds, 15 mammals — recorded in the reserve’s first biodiversity survey. Explora / TNC, 2025.
What was lost at Torres del Paine?
In December 2011 a fire lit by a careless camper burned more than 17,600 hectares of Torres del Paine — lenga forest that takes a human lifetime to grow. It was the third major fire in a decade, on a landscape already carrying a century of sheep-ranching: fences, overgrazed steppe, and guanaco herds pushed to the margins.
What brought it back?
The response came from two directions. Citizens: Reforestemos Patagonia, launched in 2012 in direct answer to the fire, has planted more than 810,000 native lenga seedlings inside the park (Fundación Reforestemos). And land: Explora, working with The Nature Conservancy, placed 6,000 hectares of former ranchland into a conservation reserve protected in perpetuity under Chile's Derecho Real de Conservación — 97% reserved for conservation and exploration, 3% for the lodge that funds it.
What is it like now?
The reserve's first biodiversity survey recorded 131 plant species, 50 birds and 15 mammals — pumas, guanacos, condors and Chilean flamingos among them (Explora / TNC, 2025). The fences are out; the guanacos graze the old paddocks.
Who does the work?
Fundación Reforestemos' planters, the park's rangers (CONAF), and Explora's guides — who walk the reserve daily with guests — share the same ground. The Tompkins conservation legacy runs through the wider region: over 800,000 hectares donated across Chile and Argentina, catalysing protection of some 6 million (Mongabay, 2021).
How do you visit Torres del Paine?
Walk the reserve with Explora — the lodge at Salto Chico is the 3% that pays for the 97%. Guided treks cross the old estancia land where the wild is visibly walking back in.
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