Land Conservation Project In Chile

Working together with counsel in Santiago, Chile over a period of almost 30 years, we have assisted Tompkins Conservation (formaly known as The Conservation Land Trust) and its principal sponsors the late Douglas R. Tompkins, the co-founder of the Esprit clothing company, and his wife Kristine McDivitt Tompkins in the acquisition of over 2,000,000 acres of pristine wilderness in South America. The acreage in Chile stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Argentine border, and encompasses mountains, lakes, rivers, and some of the last old growth temperate rain forest on the planet. After many years of on and off negotiations, an agreement was concluded with the Government of Chile whereby in 2018 approximately 1,000,000 contiguous acres were donated by our client to an agency of the Government and that donation was matched by a Government donation of approximately 9,000,000 acres, with the land to be held in perpetuity for current and future national parks.  The total set aside is roughly the size of Switzerland, and is the largest set aside for conservation purposes in history.  Kristine McDivitt Tompkins was recently awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.