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Photo Credit: nwrafting

The Pascua and Baker rivers of Patagonia run through the remote South American wilderness. Few people have visited these waters and we now stand the chance of losing them. That’s because the Pascua and Baker rivers are being threatened by a massive hydroelectric project that would contain the waters with five dams by 2020.

Former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet put most of the rivers rights into the hands of foreign corporations who hope to dam the powerful water that the river provides. They call their project the HidroAysen Project, which would produce about 20 percent of Chile’s current electric demand. If the project works out, more than 15,000 acres of the Patagonian wilderness at the bottom of South America would be flooded. Power lines would stretch 1,500 miles long to distribute the energy created by rivers. The power lines will be strung on more than 5,000 towers that are 200 feet high. These towers will require a forest clear-cut swath that is 1,000 miles long and 400 feet wide. The distance is comparable to the length of Maine to South Florida, a swath that would be the Earth’s longest clear-cut scar.

Wildlife that thrives in Patagonia will disappear as their habitat is destroyed. Huemul deer and Andean Condors which are already threatened, will almost certainly become extinct. Fortunately there are many efforts to help stop the damming of the Patagonian rivers. An organization called Sin Represas is campaigning against the damns. Hernan Sandoval, the president of the Corporacion Chile Ambiente, is another leader in the fight against dams in Patagonia. Let’s hope these efforts pay off so that Patagonia isn’t drowned.

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