Payunia Provincial Park Project (Argentina)

Guanacos migrate through the existing Payunia Reserve (Mendoza Province, Argentina) | Photo credit: Wildlife Conservation Society

Reserva Natural la Payunia (Payunia Reserve), located in the south of Argentina’s Mendoza Province, protects one of the most pristine examples of the Patagonian Steppe in central Argentina. Initially established by gubernatorial decree in 1982 and expanded by the Mendoza Provincial Assembly in 2010, the area now encompasses more than 1.6 million acres. While the area enjoys protection from mining and oil and gas development, more than seventy percent of the reserve is privately owned. It therefore lacks legal protection from other destructive uses, including road and fence building, residential development, construction of utility corridors, unsustainable livestock grazing, and other uses.

To fully protect this area, the Wyss Foundation has committed nearly $10,000,000 in funding to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Argentina Program to help it purchase private lands within the reserve from willing sellers, donate the properties to the province for permanent safeguarding, and upgrade the management of the donated lands and existing fiscal (public) lands to the level of a provincial park.

The existing Payunia Reserve is the largest unit within Mendoza’s world-class protected areas system, which includes Aconcagua Provincial Park (this park protects one of the world’s “Seven Summits”). Payunia is a quintessential example of northern Patagonia and is characterized by vast grasslands, volcanic cinder cones and outcroppings, and solitude. The reserve is home to the world’s largest guanaco migration and healthy populations of pumas, maras, rehas, Andean condor, and remnant populations of the endangered Andean cat. Successful implementation of this project will ensure that this biodiverse and scenic area remains intact and can be enjoyed by the people of Mendoza and the province’s many visitors forever.