40. Pumas, Condors, and Protecting 9 Million Acres: Rewilding at Scale with Carolina Morgado
An inside look at the mission of Rewilding Chile, one of the world’s most ambitious conservation efforts.
Carolina said two things to me when we talked. She said them about twenty minutes apart, so at the time, I didn’t see how they were connected. I do now.
After defining rewilding as a way of healing nature proactively, the first thing she said that snapped me to attention is that rewilding is mostly needed where there’s been more human interaction.
I had never thought about rewilding this way before. It’s a hard thought to shake though, partly because it stings a bit, and partly because it underscores the enormity of the task at hand to heal the marks we’ve etched into this place we call home.
Then Carolina dropped this wisdom gem,
“Never forget that nature provides…a spiritual renovation every time you’re there.”
This beautiful phrase, which she attributed to Tom Butler (author of Wild Earth), was new to me and struck a chord that’s still ringing. I think it’s powerful because it works on two levels.
The spiritual part speaks to the ineffable feeling from nature that moves through us, grounds us, buoys our spirits, and needs no words.
The renovation part implies restoration, which is exactly what environmental neuroscience shows us is happening to our brains on nature.
When I listened back to our conversation, my mind tethered the ideas of rewilding and spiritual renovation together in a sort of unbreakable relationship.
If we wish to have places in nature for spiritual renovation, which I’d say we need now more than maybe any other time in history, then we must protect the wild.
The potential for a self-reinforcing loop is tumbling away gently, steadily, in my brain. Connect with nature > experience spiritual renovation > take action to protect the wild > connect with nature > experience spiritual renovation, and so on. It’s a damn fine loop.
An opposing pattern also comes into focus, except it isn’t a loop, it’s a dead-end pathway. Nature disconnect > anxiety/depression/loneliness > diminishing wild > further disconnect > no wild. And, I have to say it. No wild, no calm. No wild, no stoke.
By joining these two thoughts from Carolina, I’m overcome by the importance of the rewilding work being done. Yes, it’s a fight for nurturing complete ecosystems at scale, but it’s also a fight for our hearts and minds. For the right to feel calm. For the right to feel stoke.
This is where the crucial work of Rewilding Chile comes into the picture.
In the latest episode of Nature Junkie Radio, I sat down with Carolina Morgado, the executive director of Rewilding Chile to understand their strategies, large-scale impact, and struggles of protecting huge swaths of nature to feed our collective spiritual renovation.
Here’s Carolina’s reflection on observing the impact this work can have on all of us.
“Some of these trees are over 4,000 years old. That kind of presence changes you.”
To me, this is a change worth every ounce of protection and I’m in both awe and deep gratitude for the work of the people at Tompkins Conservation and Rewilding Chile under Carolina’s leadership. Check out the episode summary below along with epic photos of the parks, wildlife, and the people of Rewilding Chile.
Enjoy the ride,
Jeff
Visionary Leadership & People Working Together
Places Worth Protecting
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Episode Summary
Back in the 1990s, Carolina Morgado was working for a river kayaking company in Chile when her first customer happened to be Doug Tompkins, the co-founder of Esprit and The North Face. At the time, Tompkins was quietly acquiring huge tracts of land across South America with a bold vision to create national parks and protect wild ecosystems at scale.
That encounter changed the trajectory of Carolina’s life. She went on to work alongside Doug and Kris Tompkins for over two decades at Tompkins Conservation. After Doug’s tragic death in 2015, Kris restructured the organization to ensure its long-term impact, leading to the creation of Rewilding Chile, where Carolina now serves as Executive Director.
In this episode of Nature Junkie Radio, Carolina shares what it takes to lead one of the most ambitious rewilding and conservation efforts on the planet. She breaks down what rewilding really means, how it differs from passive conservation, and about overcoming the most insane obstacles to making this work happen for the greater good.
We explore the three core pillars of Rewilding Chile’s work: National parks as a large-scale, long-term conservation strategy, wildlife rehab and reintroduction to rebuild complete ecosystems, and community engagement as the first line of both love and protection for wild places.
Carolina brings these ideas to life with powerful stories from Patagonia, from pumas roaming freely again (sometimes in unexpected places), to condors being reintroduced, to former sheep ranches transforming back into thriving ecosystems.
This conversation touches on biodiversity, climate resilience, wildlife conservation, and the future of national parks. Carolina paints a vivid picture of what’s possible when vision, scale, and long-term commitment come together.
Episode Links
@Rewildingchile Instagram
Route of Parks Patagonia (tons of helpful info for planning trips)