Location: Los Lagos Region Map
Area: 431 km²
Chiloé National Park is a Chilean national park, located on the
western coast of the Isla Grande de Chiloé, in the Los Lagos Region.
It covers 43,057 ha divided into two sectors: the smallest, called
Chepu, is in the commune of Ancud, while the rest, called Abtao, is
in the communes of Dalcahue, Castro and Chonchi. The largest area of
the Park corresponds to the hills of the Cordillera de la Costa,
known in this area as the Cordillera del Piuchén. The protected
environments are areas of dunes, Valdivian forest, larches, and peat
bogs.
History
It was created by Supreme Decree No. 734, in
1983, as a consequence of the conflict caused by the complaint
against the Chiloé Chips Project of the previous decade. Over time,
its area has decreased by more than 4,500 ha because in neighboring
sectors there are Huilliche communities that initially had remained
within the protected area. Therefore, they could not legally
exercise their property rights or carry out their resource
extraction activities. First, the Lake Huelde area in the community
of Chanquín was disaffected, that is, it lost its status as a
protected area; later, the same was done with a strip of beach and
land between Huentemó and the Colecole river, and finally another
strip between the river Colecole and the Anay River, which remained
under the control of the Huentemó community. In these disaffected
places, joint conservation and tourism projects are carried out
between the National Forestry Corporation and the indigenous
communities.
Access roads
For the southern sector or
"Anay" there are three entrances. The first and most used is the
entrance through Cucao. Along Route CH-5 from Castro to the south to
the Notuco intersection, there are 24 km of paved road. From there,
follow a secondary paved road that leads to the town of Cucao in a
stretch of 34.5 km. Across the bridge over the Desaguadero River or
Cucao River is the main entrance, with CONAF offices, camping areas,
a small museum, and educational trails. The second entrance is
located on the other side of the Anay River; From Cucao, follow the
gravel road to the Chanquín sector and then cross Deñal beach until
you reach Huentemó, there you take a path that in its first sections
contains a wooden or "planchado" path and then borders the slope of
a hill until reaching Quiutil beach, at the end of it is the
Colecole River, which must be forded and followed by a two-hour path
through the forest until reaching the Anay River, which must also be
forded to arrive at the refuge which is at the end of the beach. The
third entrance is on the path to the Abtao River and before
traveling it is necessary to communicate the date of the trip at the
CONAF offices in Castro, since there are no park rangers in that
area or sufficient signage and it is common for visitors to get
lost. From the Panamericana, take the route called "Camino al
Pacífico" and you can travel by single-wheel drive vehicle to the
Chilcón River (15 km), from there it is possible to continue in
four-wheel drive vehicles, on horseback or on foot to a plateau of
high grasslands ("campaña"), then it is only possible to travel on
foot (3-5 hours) or on horseback through the Piuché mountain range
until reaching the entrance of the Park, next to the scientific
facilities of the University of Chile and a refuge. From there to
the Pacific coast and the mouth of the Abtao river, it takes about
7-9 hours of walking and descends through forests of different
types, including burned larches and some living larches that were
declared a National Monument of the country. Next to Abtao beach,
the Valdivian evergreen forest predominates.
For the north
sector or "Chepu" there is an entrance. From Ancud along Route CH-5
to the south, until the intersection with Chepu, a 25 km stretch of
paved road. The route continues along a gravel road to Puerto
Anguay, 14 km away. From Puerto Anguay it is necessary to take a
boat ride down the Chepu River and then continue on foot along a 14
km long path, mainly coastal, until reaching the Lar River, where
the entrance to the park is located, without services or CONAF
permanent staff. The total tour lasts about 4 hours.
Climate
It has a temperate rainy climate, with average annual
temperatures of 11 °C and abundant rainfall distributed fairly evenly
throughout the year, variable according to altitude. On the Pacific
coast, about 3,000 mm per year are recorded, in the upper parts of the
Cordillera del Piuchén, about 5,000 mm, and in the lands east of the
hills, just over 2,500 mm.
Flora and fauna
Flora
The
predominant plant formation is the Valdivian jungle, a dense forest made
up of evergreen trees, shrubs and climbing plants. In the hills there
are also large sectors of peat bogs and tepuales. And in the dunes there
are plant communities that must deal with the lack of nutrients and
salinity.
The most representative species of the Valdivian flora
are the arrayán (Luma apiculata), the quila (Chusquea quila), the tique
or olivillo (Aextoxicon punctatum) and the tepa (Laureliopsis
philippiana). The larch (Fitzroya cupressoides) grows on poorly drained
soils, forming almost pure forests or associated with tepú (Tepualia
stipularis) and Guaitecas cypress (Pilgerodendron uviferum). Pangue
(Gunnera tinctoria), the sandberry Fragaria chiloensis and the grass
Ammophila arenaria, which was introduced to control the advance of the
dunes, proliferate in the dunes. Another plant that stands out because
of its shape and color is the poe (Fascicularia bicolor), which grows on
trees or among rocks.
The formation called tepual is a forest of
tepúes that, with their intertwined trunks, form a tangle that allows a
false ground of mosses and epiphytes to form on them several meters from
the real ground. This false floor makes it very dangerous to walk
through a tepual when its existence has not been noticed or precautions
are not taken.
Fauna
The fauna of the Park is formed mainly by
birds and marine mammals. On the Metalqui islet there is a large colony
of sea lions.
Land mammals are rare. The pudú (Pudu puda), one of
the smallest deer in the world, and the Chilote or Darwin's fox
(Pseudalopex fulvipes), an endangered species, live in the wooded areas.
At the mouths of the rivers there are huillines (Lutra provocax) that
feed on shellfish and fish.
Places of interest
Main entrance,
CONAF offices, museum
educational trail
Dunes
Colecole myrtle
forest
Anay River
Nango River
Abtao River
Chepu River
larches
Fish River (or Shelter)
Metalqui Islet