The Cani Sanctuary

Pucón is located within the Aruacanía Region of Chile, named after the arbol nacional del país, the araucaria tree, Chile's cherished Natural Monument. For our first excursion, we decided to climb to the el mirador, or viewpoint, at the summit of Sanctuario Cani, a 1200 acre natural preserve located on the caldera of an extinct Pleistocene volcano. Though modest in size, the Cani Sanctuary has become a model of environmental education and ecotourism for the entire country and is the Chile's first private NGO-protected area. Pucón is the center of environmental activism in southern Chile.Tree cutting, permanent structures and domesticated animals are minimized in the forest, restricting human access to visiting hikers using the few trails developed for access. We did see a few invasive species grazing where the limited fencing was unable to keep them out.
The araucaria reach 50 meters in height, 3 meters in diameter and live to be up to 2000 years old. It is considered a living fossil, once browsed upon by vegetarian dinosaurs 200 million years ago.
A central goal is to encourage involvement by Cani's neighbors to increase conservation through sustainable alternative economic uses of the ancient forest ecosystem. Work has begun training neighbors in essential skills like home tree nurseries, seed collection and germination, and seasonal ecotourism.