Episode 133 | Beyond National Parks: Kris Tompkins’ Ambitious Vision For Continental-Scale Rewilding
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Kris Tompkins, Co-Founder Tompkins Conservation
“Whoever you are, wherever your interest lies, whatever you’ve fallen in love with, get out of bed every morning and do something. Act, step into the fray—fight for a human society in balance with the natural world.” —Kristine McDivitt Tompkins
Kris Tompkins is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, an American conservationist, and former CEO of Patagonia, Inc. For three decades, she has committed to protecting and restoring wild beauty and biodiversity by creating national parks, restoring wildlife, inspiring activism, and fostering economic vitality as a result of conservation. Kristine and her late husband Douglas Tompkins have protected approximately 15 million acres of parklands in Chile and Argentina through Tompkins Conservation and its partners, making them among the most successful national park-oriented philanthropists in history. Kristine served as Patron for Protected Areas for the UN Environmental Programme from 2018-2022. The recipient of numerous honors, she was the first conservationist to be awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.
Arami carrying her cub outside the enclosure of the Jaguar Reintroduction Center.
Show Notes
Rewilding the Southern Cone: A Conversation with Kris Tompkins
In this episode of the Rewilding Earth podcast, Kris Tompkins discusses her visionary efforts in rewilding South America, particularly focusing on the Southern Cone’s ecological reconnection. Kris reflects on various projects, including reintroducing large predators like jaguars and restoring ecosystems across vast territories in Argentina and Chile. (Almost 15 million acres in total. That’s 5 million acres larger than Switzerland!) Kris knows how to think BIG. She shares insights on conservation strategies, the importance of thinking on a continental scale, and the role of local communities and the new generation in these initiatives. With a drive to reconnect ecosystems from Chile to Colombia and beyond, Kris emphasizes the significance of working with natural systems and engaging local populations to ensure success.
Timeline
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:39 Rewilding Achievements and Future Goals
04:17 Challenges and Strategies in Rewilding
09:47 Generational Leadership in Conservation
12:56 Continental Rewilding Vision
20:50 Community Involvement and Success Stories
34:18 Concluding Thoughts and Future Aspirations
“National parks are the gold standard of conservation in these days of severe ecological crisis.” —Douglas Tompkins
Extra Credit
If you’re new to Kris’ work with Tompkins Conservation, you’ll find everything you need below to get caught up on over 30 years of some of the best wildlands conservation work ever done and the fantastic team of people behind it!
By the numbers: Read about the national parks and the species Tompkins Conservation, Rewilding Chile, and Rewilding Argentina are working to protect.
Visit: Rewilding Chile and Rewilding Argentina
Watch: Kris Tompkins Inspiring 2024 Ted Talk
Last Wild Places: Ibera
Rewilding Patagonia | BBC Travel Show
Additional Media of Interest:
- Time Magazine op-ed on rewilding
- New York Times profile of Kris Tompkins
- Kris’ first TED talk
- Our Living World, Ibera’s Jaguars, Netflix
- Our Great National Parks, Chilean Patagonia, Netflix
- On bringing back Jaguars, podcast from Wild
- Impenetrable opens to the World, Nat Geo
- Kris with Conde Naste Traveler podcast
- Ibera Rewilding short documentary from Nat Geo
- New Wildlife Corridor for a Disappearing Deer, The Guardian
- BBC Travel Show visits the Rewilding program at Patagonia National Park
- National Geographic article on TC by David Quammen, from May, 2020
- PBS NewsHour on rewilding jaguars, with KT interview
- Forbes interview about rewilding as an investment
Director of Digital Outreach (D.O.D.O.) for The Rewilding Institute
Host and Producer of the Rewilding Earth Podcast
Jack started Rewilding work as Executive Director of Sky Island Alliance in the mid-1990’s, organizing the Sky Island Wildlands Network design, ripping up illegal roads on forest service lands, installing wolf acclimatization pens on Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch & conducting howling surveys to help make way for the final stage of the Lobo reintroduction program in the Southwest.
Through the years, Jack has worked with Dave Foreman and the Rewilding Gang to further Rewilding initiatives and education.