\u201c\u201cIt won\u2019t be long before people speak of it (Cocham\u00f3) in the same breath as places like Torres del Paine and Patagonian national parks.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Cocham\u00f3 is still protected against all that. There are no roads, cars, street lamps or power lines. Rivers still pour from summits to sea unabated. The water is so clean and pure you can drink it straight from the source. There are more kinds of moss and lichen than I could ever name growing in the forest. There are still countless groves of old growth alerce (think Patagonian giant sequoia), ulmo, ma\u00f1io, and coihue towering overhead. There may be more folks on the trails than there once were, but you can still step a few paces into the woods and have a full-blown wilderness experience minutes from your tent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, the place is special. \nMore special to me, personally, than anywhere else on the planet. And I \nthink the reason I feel that way is because Cocham\u00f3 needs us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You \nsee, Cocham\u00f3 is not a national park, or a UNESCO World Heritage site. No\n government agency or billionaire or NGO has intervened to save the \nplace. Cocham\u00f3 is not just the most beautiful place I\u2019ve ever been. It\u2019s\n somewhere with an uncertain future. Somewhere I can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I\u2019m stepping up to the plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I\u2019m definitely not the first person to come to bat for Cocham\u00f3. I\u2019m simply the latest in a long line of proud conservationists who love and fight for this special place. In 2009, local activists successfully lobbied then-president Michelle Bachelet to prevent a series of hydroelectric dams from being built on the Rio Cocham\u00f3. In 2016, they were fighting for the fate of the next river south, the Rio Manso. Again, grassroots efforts won the day, and the hydro project slated for that watershed was shut down, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it\u2019s not just the threat of\n dams that plagues the area. Major questions loom in this collection of \nprivate land parcels as visitation continues to grow. How many people is\n too many? What do we do with human excrement? Who will build and \nmaintain the trails? Who will come to the rescue when someone gets hurt?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer to that question, as long as I\u2019ve been going there, has been simple. Volunteers. In other words: local horse packers, campground hosts and other individuals who already have jobs. Jobs that keep them very busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the past few years, I\u2019ve become \npart of a growing group of concerned individuals who actively seek out \nways to pitch in. We\u2019ve helped dig toilets, carry out litter, maintain \ntrails and support rescue efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s all been very ad hoc and \nunofficial. But more people are coming each year, and the toll that \nvisitation takes on the resources of Cocham\u00f3 is growing exponentially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we\u2019re organizing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\n time has come to share our vision. To act as force multipliers for the \nincredible efforts that local organizers, advocates and activists have \nbeen carrying out for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you can help. In fact, we need your help. We\u2019re asking you to join us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We created Friends of Cocham\u00f3<\/a> in\n 2018 to conserve the natural and cultural resources of the area through\n stewardship work and education. We have a handful of cool projects that\n we\u2019re really excited to undertake this coming season (North American \nwinter, aka austral summer). Our board of directors come from Argentina,\n Chile and the United States, and have a combined 50-plus seasons of \nexperience in the Cocham\u00f3 Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may not have been to Cocham\u00f3\n yet, but I hope one day you will go. It won\u2019t be long before people \nspeak of it in the same breath as places like Torres del Paine and \nPatagonia National Park. But while the Chilean government can be counted\n on to protect those destinations, protecting Cocham\u00f3 is on all of us. \nThe time to lay a foundation for sustainable tourism and ecologically \nsound practices and norms for visitors to abide by is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if \nyou have been to Cocham\u00f3, then you already know all of this to be true. \nYou\u2019ve seen how special it is for yourself. And you know how delicate it\n is, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more about our organization, please visit us at friendsofcochamo.org<\/a>.\n There are donation links, as well as contact prompts so you can learn \nhow to get involved. From all of us (and from Cocham\u00f3), thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/iy930bx.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n