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Kris Tompkins

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Kris Tompkins
Tompkins in 2015
Born
Kristine McDivitt

June 1950 (1950-06) (age 74)
Santa Paula, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Conservationist, businesswoman
Organization(s)Patagonia, Tompkins Conservation
Spouse
​
(m. 1993⁠–⁠2015)​
Websitetompkinsconservation.org

Kristine Tompkins (born June 1950) is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, an American conservationist and former CEO of Patagonia, Inc..[1]

Early life

Born in southern California, Kristine McDivitt spent most of her childhood on her great-grandfather’s ranch. She spent some early years in Venezuela, where her father worked for an oil company.[2] She attended college at the College of Idaho in Caldwell,[3] where she ski-raced competitively.

At Patagonia, Inc.

Beginning in 1973, she returned to California and worked for Yvon Chouinard, and helped him turn his fledgling piton business into Patagonia, Inc.[4] She became the company’s first CEO.

Conservation work

In 1993, she retired from Patagonia, Inc, married Doug Tompkins (founder of The North Face and co-founder of Esprit). The Tompkins decided to focus their efforts on national parks, and started a suite of nonprofits, including, Conservation Land Trust and Conservacion Patagonica, all of which have now consolidated under Tompkins Conservation.[citation needed] In 1991, Doug Tompkins began acquiring private land for conservation purposes in Chile’s Los Lagos Region, managing it as a public-access park in the threatened Valdivian temperate rainforest. Pumalín Park received official nature sanctuary status in 2005 and was designated a national park in 2018, prompted by Tompkins Conservation’s donation of almost 725,000 acres for the new, roughly 1-million-acre park, Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, named in honor of its founder.[5][6][7]

The Tompkins' conservation efforts expanded to Argentina, starting with the Iberá Wetlands of the Corrientes province. In the wetland ecosystem, they have launched projects to reintroduce extirpated species, such as the giant anteater, jaguar, red-and-green macaw, and giant river otter.[8][9] The rewilding work in Ibera, as well as many other projects in the country, is now carried out by Rewilding Argentina, the team assembled by Kris and Doug, led by Sofia Heinonen.

After years of collaborating with governments, local organizations, scientists, philanthropists, and communities, in January 2018 Kris, on behalf of Tompkins Conservation, and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed decrees to create five new national parks in Chile and expand three others, adding a total of more than 10 million acres of new national parklands to Chile. For scale, that is more than three times the size of Yosemite and Yellowstone combined, or approximately the size of Switzerland. With one million acres of land from Tompkins Conservation and an additional 9 million acres of federal land from Chile, this has been billed as the largest donation of land from a private entity to a country in history.[10][11]

Conservación Patagónica

Main article: Conservación Patagónica

Conservación Patagónica (CP) was founded by Kris Tompkins in 2000 as an NGO focused on creating new national parks in Patagonia that protect and restore wildlands, biodiversity, and communities. CP's first project was the establishment of Monte Leon National Park, Argentina’s first coastal national park. In 2001, CP purchased Estancia Monte León, one of the oldest sheep ranches in Argentine Patagonia, located on the southern Atlantic shoreline a few hundred miles north of the Strait of Magellan. Monte León had long been one of the priorities for Argentine National Parks because of its richness and diversity of species, including Magellanic penguins, sea lions, elephant seals, leopard seals, and several migratory seabirds.[12] CP purchased this 155,000-acre (63,000 ha) estancia, crafted a master plan for its transition to a national park and, in 2002, donated the property to the Argentine National Parks Administration, creating the Monte León National Park, the first coastal national park in Argentina.[13]

In 2003, CP had the opportunity to purchase Estancia Valle Chacabuco, a historic sheep ranch in Chile's Aysén Region. The Chilean National Parks had made this ranch their number-one conservation priority for more than 35 years because it sits between two existing National Reserves, namely Jeinimeni and Tamango, together 460,000 acres (190,000 ha). This area is prime habitat for the endangered huemul deer, one of Chile's national animals. After developing a public-access infrastructure system, including a trail system, visitor center, campgrounds, lodging, and a restaurant, CP donated Patagonia Park to the Chilean park service. Along with the two adjoining National Reserves, this became the Patagonia National Park, a flagship park for Latin America. Stretching between two of the country's largest lakes, Lago General Carrera and Lago Cochrane, the park contains an impressive diversity of landscapes: arid Patagonian steppe, Southern Beech forests, wetlands, high peaks, alpine lakes, and streams. As the president of CP, Tompkins was heavily involved in every aspect of this project, from landscape restoration to infrastructure construction.[14] Tompkins and her team are some of the few throughout the world currently practicing this movement.[15]

Recognition

Awards

See also

  • Wild Life – 2023 film by Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin

References

  1. ^ Kris Tompkins, Former Patagonia CEO: "Impact is What Counts" – The Wharton Journal Archived January 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Edward Humes, Eco Barons (New York: Harper Collins, 2009)
  3. ^ "Leadership, Patagonia-style: Changing the Criteria for Success". Knowledge@Wharton. 31 October 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  4. ^ XX Factor: Visionaries Archived 2010-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Haas, Michaela (2021-10-26). "How One Woman Protected Millions of Acres - RTBC". Reasons to be Cheerful. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  6. ^ "Pumalín National Park To Carry Name Of Founder, Douglas Tompkins | SGB Media Online". sgbonline.com. 2018-02-28. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  7. ^ "The Fashion Executives Who Saved a Patagonian Paradise". www.sierraclub.org. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  8. ^ "The philanthropists 'paying rent' to planet Earth in Argentina - CNN.com". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  9. ^ "Rewilding Argentina's Ibera Wetlands". Geographical. 2023-01-05. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  10. ^ "This Woman Is Helping Create Some of the World's Greatest National Parks". Condé Nast Traveler. 2018-02-02. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  11. ^ "Chile creates five national parks over 10m acres in historic act of conservation". the Guardian. 2018-01-29. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  12. ^ Patagonia Land Trust Current Projects
  13. ^ nationalparksummit.org
  14. ^ Patagonia Environmentalism: Essay
  15. ^ "Conservacion Patagonica :: Creating the Future Patagonia National Park in Chile". www.conservacionpatagonica.org. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
  16. ^ "Archived Event - 2021 Audubon Women in Conservation Celebration".
  17. ^ "Kristine Tompkins recibió Premio "Luis Oyarzún" entregado por la UACh". El Heraldo Austral (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  18. ^ "Latin American Program Gala | Wilson Center". www.wilsoncenter.org. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  19. ^ "Medalists: 2017". Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  20. ^ "David R. Brower Award". The American Alpine Club. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
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