Comment by jashkenas | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jashkenas | Hacker News Reader

Some corrections to this misleading article:

It's not a hiking trail. It's, in part, a "rebranding" of the existing Carretera Austral (a previously dirt highway built under the orders of Augusto Pinochet, now partially paved), combined with a tour ship cruise (between Tortel and Puerto Natales), and then a "rebranding" of Highway 9 down to Punta Arenas, and perhaps another cruise from there to Cabo de Hornos.

There is a Sendero de Chile (Chilean Trail) project, started by the government in 2000, which would have been a hiking trail that extends the full length of Chile. But that's a different plan, and has unfortunately been stalled...

The big Tompkins/Buckley bought-and-donated National Park, Corcovado, was established in 2005, and still has no access to the public available: there are no roads there, and no trails.

In the newer Tompkins park, Yendegaia, the Chilean government has begun to build a road through it. Access to the public is still limited.

His first park, Pumalín, was operated as a publicly-accessible private nature reserve from 1991, when Tompkins purchased the initial estate, until two years after his death, in 2017, when his widow finally turned over the reserve to the national park service.

The "Route of Parks" rebranding "es una propuesta de Tompkins Conservation" (is an initiative of the Tompkins Conservation foundation).

In my opinion, although it's wonderful what the end result of the Tompkins/Buckley efforts to conserve this land has been — let's not ignore the ugliness of how it happened. Wealthy American businessmen buying large swaths of the most spectacular parts of a South American country, using them as a private retreat during their lifetimes, and then turning them over posthumously, is not really a model to be idealized.

To flip the scenario: How would you feel if Jack Ma had bought Yosemite in 1991, set up the valley as a private retreat, lived down in the Ahwahnee until his death, and had his widow donate it to the federal government?

Edit:

For more context, two of the best-written, most balanced, English-language pieces on the Tompkins legacy and controversies are both from the Atlantic:

Eden: A Gated Community (1999) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/06/eden-a-...

The Entrepreneur Who Wants to Save Paradise (2014) https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/the-ent...

> To flip the scenario: How would you feel if Jack Ma had bought Yosemite in 1991, set up the valley as a private retreat, lived down in the Ahwahnee until his death, and had his widow donate it to the federal government?

"The park system benefited from private contributions even before Congress created the National Park Service on August 25, 1916. In 1907 Mr. and Mrs. William Kent donated what became Muir Woods National Monument, California; and in June 1916 a group formed by George B. Dorr, Charles W. Eliot, and others gave the land for Sieur de Monts National Monument in Maine, the forerunner of Acadia National Park. These were the first of many parks created or enlarged by philanthropy." https://www.nps.gov/articles/philanthropy-and-the-national-p...

The heirs of a forest of old growth Red Woods in California--preserved for generations by a family who refused to clear cut, instead judicially harvesting timber--recently executed a land swap with a conservation organization. The forest is one of the most pristine in the state, with trees rivaling those of famous Muir Woods. https://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Family-s-legenda...

I presume Chile has a concept of eminent domain? Perhaps the issue isn't with the people who bought up that land, it's with the government (and the people who supported it) who failed to acquire it. Or perhaps there was no issue at all, exclusion being the price a single generation paid so countless subsequent generations could enjoy that environment.

"""

To flip the scenario: How would you feel if Jack Ma had bought Yosemite in 1991, set up the valley as a private retreat, lived down in the Ahwahnee until his death, and had his widow donate it to the federal government?

"""

If the government had never set aside Yosemite as a park, and it had been private land that Jack Ma bought, I would be thankful for him to donate it.

It would be terrible conservation policy to rely on private individuals to donate land. But if people do, I would be thankful.

The fact that Jack Ma is a Chinese national feels like an irrelevant distraction. Why would that affect my gratitude?

Jack Ma's Chinese nationality speaks to his alienation from the needs, desires, traditions, and sovereignty from the local flora, fauna, and peoples indigenous to (or settled in) the region.

But his Chinese nationality doesn't preclude him from being a good steward of the land.

Or is there some rule about who can tend to what land beyond the legal issues of permission and authority?

This is how quite a few State parks in California came to pass. I'd rather that enduring preservation is the long-term result even if it is some rich person's oversized backyard for a while.

"Wealthy American buys large swaths of land and donates them for preservation" is a model that happens in the United States even today, actually! And... it can be controversial, as you suggest. One recent example I can think of in the United States is Katahdin Woods in Maine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katahdin_Woods_and_Waters_Nati...) which was created using land bought by one of the founders of Burt's Bees.

Usually the controversy is some combination of access, employment opportunities, and fear of "outsiders" meddling.

From my perspective, at least regarding American land and access issues, this sort of situation is quite a bit better than "wealthy person buys large swaths of land and uses it as a private playground for himself or herself", which also happens a fair bit. The United States in general does not have a "freedom to roam" concept so even simply hiking on private land can be problematic. Let alone other recreational activities. The best way of ensuring people have access to outdoor recreational activities is exactly through the establishment of these sort of places.

The employment / business aspect is another story and can be trickier to balance sometimes.

In ideal world, where governments would properly care and protect nature, your arguments would be valid.

In real world, thank god for people like these. End result is all that matters - there are massive protected parks. They are mostly inaccessible? Good, it means tourism will not do much damage soon.

Think in decades and centuries, not only what-is-it-for-me-right-now. That's not a good perspective on environmental protection.

Grand Tetons National Park was created by the Rockefeller family secretly buying all the land to set it aside for conservation.

I’m fine with that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com