The Cleanest Line

Are Parks Protecting the Wildlife and Places They Were Created to Save?

As a former director with the International League of Conservation Photographers, Trevor Frost has been keeping a close eye on the world's imperiled places for years. Cleanest Line readers might recognize some of the stories Trevor has helped bring us, such as the Rios Libres series (dedicated to protecting Chile's free-flowing rivers) and, more recently, an initiative to protect the Sacred Headwaters region of western Canada. Today's post is an update on Frost's latest work - this time he's turning his attention to the world's "paper parks," those places that have been set aside - in theory - to protect the world's endangered landscapes and wildlife. Trevor offers this update on what's really going on:

Parks or protected areas remain our best tool for safeguarding wildlife and wild places and that is why more than 100,000 parks dot the globe protecting reefs and rainforests and mountain ranges. But while some of these parks are doing a great job, many, some would say a majority, are failing to protect the wildlife and wild spaces inside their borders. A closer look at the parks that are struggling often reveals there is little to no on-the-ground-protection for the parks in the form of park rangers, equipment, and even boundary signs to mark park borders.

[Rangers in Sumatra typically conduct their patrols on foot, but are known to take advantage of alternative transportation when available.  Photo: Rhett A. Butler, 2011, courtesy of Trevor Frost and mongabay.com]

Dirtbag Diaires: Buckle Down - The Year of Big Ideas 2011

What are your goals for 2011? If you're still looking for ideas, today's Dirtbag Diaries has more than a few from listeners like you.

James Q Martin has an incredible, carefree life. For the last, five years he's traveled the world, often to warm locales to photograph beautiful athletes in stunning places. It would be hard to let go of that kind of job, but two years ago, James stumbled upon a blog post about the impending damning of the Rio Baker in Chile's Asan region. It set off a powerful reaction. A decade earlier, James had traveled through the Asan region, and the great wilderness left a lasting impression. Now, with the massive hydro-electric project impending, James came up with an idea. What if you took a naturalist, a writer, a photographer, a filmmaker and a conservationist on a source to sea descent to document the last days of a wild river? Could that act even help save? In 2010, James launched Rios Libres and made his dream happen. Completing his dream, would mean giving up the perfect lifestyle. With that, we present our 2011 Year of Big Ideas show. Professional athletes, passionate weekend warriors and Dirtbag Diaries contributors come together to present what they are working on in the coming year. Get inspired and then buckle down.

Listen to "Buckle Down"
(mp3 - right-click to download)

If you too believe the Rio Baker should remain a free-flowing river, add your voice to the Keep Patagonia Wild! petition from Rios Libres. For stories and video logs from their trip down the Rio Baker, and a look at the trailer for Power in the Pristine, check out our blog series from Rios Libres. Power in the Pristine will be screening at this weekend's Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, California.

Also, check out Cleanest Line reader Caleb Simpson's new energy bar company Adventure Naturals on Kickstarter. With a small donation you can help him reach his goal, and help create a new 100% organic, raw, vegan energy bar to fuel your body.

Visit dirtbagdiaries.com to hear the music from "Buckle Down" or download past episodes. You can subscribe to the show via iTunes and RSS, or connect with like-minded listeners on Facebook and Twitter.

Rios Libres: In the Shadow of Glen Canyon Dam, plus "Power in the Pristine" Trailer

6170 miles. This is the distance between Flagstaff, Arizona and Puerto Bertrand, Chile – the town closest to the source of the Rio Baker. This creates a formidable gap (the equivalent of driving from Boston to San Diego and back) between where many of us live and the rivers we are fighting to protect. Why then, are five folks from Flagstaff and two from Colorado so damned concerned about a river and a watershed that are so far from home?

[Rios Libres, a team of passionate and talented folks from the Southwest who are fighting to “keep Patagonia wild”. Photo: James Q Martin]

Editor's note: When last we left team Rios Libres, they had finished their paddle down the Rio Baker and talk had begun about a film hilighting the dam issue Patagonia. Today we're happy to share the trailer for that film, Power in the Pristine, and a story by Chris Kassar that brings the issue home.

The simple answer is this: we believe rivers should flow freely – from source to sea – as nature intended. But, there’s more. We are also motivated by the missteps made in our very own backyard. We live in the shadow of Glen Canyon dam – aka “America’s most regretted environmental mistake” and we constantly grapple with ‘what could have been’ if this place had not been lost. This dam stands as a beacon, reminding us of a past heartbreak and calling us to action in order to prevent others.

Patagonia's Rio Baker - What Will Be Lost

On the heels of our latest (and final) update from the Rios Libres team, we have this information from our friends at the International League of Conservation Photographers who are working hard to fight dams on the Rio Baker in Chile. Understanding the importance of images in environmental debates, the League of Conservation Photographers use their time and expertise to, as their mission states, "bring conservation into focus."

Noel Vidal, a quiet man from the small coastal village of Caleta Tortel,near the mouth of the Rio Baker in Chile, sums it up best  "Las presas son el principio del fin para Patagonia." - "The dams are the beginning of the end for Patagonia."

Enel, a multinational company, plans to build 5 massive dams on two of Chile's most pristine rivers - the Rio Baker and the Rio Pascua. The dams will flood 11,000 acres of wild land, displace families, and bring 1200 miles of 200 foot high transmission lines to the wild south.  These dams will provoke a development rush in Patagonia, stripping the region of its wild character.

The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) iLCP in partnership with The Patagonian Foundation (TPF) and support from Patagonia,Inc. dispatched a team of renowned photographers and photo activists (Daniel Beltra, Jack Dykinga, Jeff Foott, Bridget Besaw, and Ruth Cohen) to document the landscapes, wildlife, and cultures of the Aysen Region as part of a RAVE or Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition to aid the ongoing campaign against the proposed dams.

Visit their website and the Sin Represas website at http://www.patagoniasinrepresas.cl/final/indexeng.php to learn more about the issue.

Hit the jump for more photos from the group's recent RAVE to Patagonia.

[Aysen, Chile. February 17th 2010. The confluence of rivers Baker and Nef where one of the big dams for Hidroaysen is projected..©Daniel Beltra]

Rios Libres: Video Blogs 2 & 3 plus Next Steps

[Video: "Rios Libres Video Blog 2 with Timmy O'Neill - Rio Baker Portage" by Rio Libres]

When last we heard from team Rios Libres, Craig Childs summed up their journey to Patagonia in a beautiful post called "The Places In Between." Now that the team is home, work has begun on a film highlighting their trip and opposition to plans that would dam the Rio Baker and Rio Pascua. The two videos in this post will give you a taste of the Rio Baker's magnificence and what to expect from the film when it debuts in October.

Rios Libres: The Places In Between

Team Rios Libres has completed their journey through Patagonia, studying the potential impacts of 5 proposed damns on two of the region's wildest and most healthy rivers. Two of the dams are proposed for the Rio Baker - Chile’s longest and highest-volume wild river. The remaining three dams would be built along the Rio Pascua, Chile's third highest-volume river.

Author Craig Childs wraps their trip up with some reflections on their journey.

You can read their first three posts here: Post 1, 2, & 3.

As team member Tim O'Neill states, "our trip is water under the bridge, and hopefully never water behind the damn."

The Places In Between (a report from Craig Childs)

At night, the face of the earth is webbed with light. Our cities have swallowed almost everything. When you see this image, where does your imagination fall, on the dazzling, viral spread of humanity or the last dark places in between?

Late one night, I slipped naked into a lake full of stars down along the serrated edges of southern Chile, where on satellite images of the earth at night, the tail of South America blends into the black sea. Rivers and lakes do not emit light, nor do ice caps or chains of mountains. The sky rippled ahead of me as I swam through the cold water of Patagonia. I pushed my arms into this darkness, felt it across every inch of my skin, took it into my mouth and drank.

[Human-made lights highlight particularly developed or populated areas of the Earth's surface, including the seaboards of Europe, the eastern United States, and Japan. Photo and caption courtesy of NASA and can be found on their site.]

Rios Libres: The Voice of the Ice

Team Rios Libres is back with an update from the Neff Glacier, at the headwaters of the Río Baker. The team's first two reports can be found here (1, 2). With the Neff at their backs, the team followed the river to the sea, doing their best to document the diversity, beauty, and wildness of the region. Before completing their journey, the team will be checking in on a region of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field last believed to be last visited and documented by explorer Eric Shipton during 1960-61 expedition.

Reports from the Rios Libres team are that their travels are proceeding smoothly, but the impacts of the quakes continue to be felt and much support is still needed (information about how to help is here).

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The Voice of Ice (a report from Craig Childs)

At night I lay in my tent listening to the thunder of collapsing seracs, multi-ton columns of ice breaking free and falling a thousand feet. Smack, crack, rumble, groan. In these deeply-cut canyons, echoes build and fade. The ice-bound head of the Rio Baker is not a stable or quiet place.

[Top, Timmy O'Neill walks the line on the Neff Glacier. Above, left - Craig Childs watches as a huge chunk of ice falls 20 stories down the Neff Glacier. Photos: James Q Martin]

Rios Libres: Moving Like a Feather

 

We've just received some fresh correspondence from the Rios Libres team with their latest progress. Their first post (featured on TCL Monday, March 8) got the journey started. Today's post shares a first taste of the wild, vibrant waters of the Río Baker, where it meets the Neff. Stay tuned for next week's update from the Neff Glacier, headwaters of the Baker. From here, the team will trace the path of the Baker from source to sea.

 

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Moving Like a Feather (a report from Craig Childs)

The Río Baker is the color of topaz with the visible depth of sapphire.

Entering one of its gorges, a smooth, ceramic lip of water crashes into malestrom. Kayaks flash through like swift, tiny birds. Feeling this wild tumult, you can understand why one might want this kind of power. You would be a god to have this under your control.

Throw a switch and the raw, terrifying force of nature crimps down into cables and transformers - becoming the hum of millions of refrigerators across South America.

Every time you walk into a room and turn on the lights, every familiar tone of an Apple computer coming awake carries a grain of river, a hundredth of a kilowatt of what groups like NRDC and Patagonia Sin Represas wants you to think is sacred.

Kayaks take the run, skating across the water, airborne for moments. This is how you do it without taming the river, without conquering or consuming its power. You become a feather on a current and suddenly the river's power is at your fingertips.

 

[Timmy O'Neill drops into the Class V confluence of the Río Baker and the Neff River. Photo: James Q Martin]

Rios Libres: The Journey Begins

“Chilean Patagonia is a remote region of the world where nature--long left to its own devices--grows wild, beautiful and largely untouched by man. As South America's last frontier, the region boasts incredible biodiversity, breathtaking landscapes, essential ecological values, and a remote solitude that is increasingly rare.”

The above is taken from the blog-in-progress for a group of dedicated conservationists, Team Rios Libres, made up of photographer James Q Martin, author Craig Childs, cinematographers Denise M. Stilley and Ed George, Wildlife biologist Chris Kassar, Patagonia Climbing Ambassador Timmy O’Neil, local river guides, and Chilean journalists and conservationists. Together, their mission is to Protect Chile’s most wild and magnificent rivers from a consortium of European and Chilean mega-companies that are actively seeking to forever alter these natural jewels. The plan Rios Libres is working against would place a total of five dams along some of the magnificent rivers that are the lifeblood of this richly diverse region. Two of the dams will be placed along the Rio Baker (rhyms with “soccer”), Chile’s longest and highest-volume wild river. The remaining three dams would be built along the Rio Pascua, Chile's third highest-volume river. 

The dams are not the only impact planned for this region. To extract the power they are planned to generate, the builders will have to clear-cut at least 1,600 km (1000 mi) of pristine old-growth forest to install the world’s longest high-tension transmission line. Over 2,450 km (1,500 mi) of line would be built to transport the electricity northward to support population centers and, ultimately Chile's massive mining industry. The Rios Libres team states the impacts succinctly: “Together, the dams and transmission lines would damage communities, scar the landscape, and wreak havoc on ecosystems. Additionally, these projects would hasten the extinction of species such as the torrent duck, the Chilean river otter, and the endangered Chilean deer, the huemul.”

Team Rios Libres’ goal is simple: to give this threatened area a voice by documenting this incredible natural resource in its pristine state and by highlighting what the area means to the people, plants, and wildlife that make up its ecosystem. These are their first words from the field:

READ ON, for Rios Libres' first reports . . .

[The group gathers to begin their journey. All photos: James Q Martin] 

 

 

Vermont Skiers Urge World to Protect Patagonia

Not too long ago we told you about this year's Dirtbag Grant winners, the second recipients of the award. But who were the first? Today we're happy to share the story of the first Dirtbag Grantees, Vermont residents Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson, and their trip to "Endangered Patagonia." Here's a recap from Brian and Emily, including a video after the jump:

We are not just a bunch of gringos who would prefer that Chile stop developing its wonderful country. Nor are we opposed to hydropower. We are residents of this planet who support the cause of countless Chileans endeavoring to stop the profit-driven damming – the "electrocution" - of the global treasure that is Patagonia.

If the European-owned energy giant, ENDESA, gets it way, Chilean Patagonia’s largest and wildest river, the Rio Baker, will be dammed. To connect the resulting glut of power to the Chilean national grid and the growing network of inefficient copper and gold mines in Chile’s far north, ENDESA is scheming to build a 2000km transmission line through the biodiverse heart and soul of Chilean Patagonia – degrading sweeping vistas and plowing roads through nature reserves. Once the transmission line is built, it will only be a matter of time before the remainder of Patagonia's wild rivers fall, and the rich mosaic of ecosystems that define Patagonia is torn to pieces.