Hello friends of Bio Bio Expeditions!
Damara here – just wanting to
share some information with you about the threats facing the mighty
rivers of Patagonia (including our beloved Futaleufu). If you traveled
to the Futa with us last winter you may remember the environmental
letter I encouraged everyone to sign? Well, at the end of the season, I
sent off more than 60 letters to the President of Chile – Michelle
Bachelet. Two months later I received a formal response from the
President’s Cabinet thanking me (and all of you) for our concern and
assuring me that our concerns would be considered and sent through the
proper channels. Later in the summer I received another letter from the
President’s cabinet (see photo) also reassuring me that any hydro or
mining projects on the Futaleufu would go under rigorous study first and
that our comments would be considered. Both were very formal letters,
no promises, but I was quite pleased and impressed to have received a
response. So, thank you to all who helped me and signed a letter!!!
In other news, here are two websites you can click on to do your part
to save the beautiful, mighty rivers and forests of Patagonia. Both
the Pascua and Baker rivers, south of Futaleufu, are very threatened
right now. The power transmission lines they would have to build to
transport power from these massive dams would involve clearcutting a 400
foot wide swath (football field size) through pristine forest for
thousands of miles. You can read more about it, and send comments just
with the click of a mouse, at the following websites:

http://www.savebiogems.org/patagonia/
and
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/latin-america/patagonia

If
you loved it down there as much as we do, please take a moment to read
about the issues and take action! If you haven’t yet traveled to
Patagonia, now’s the time! Lets show the Chilean government that
tourism and adventure travel is a better alternative for Patagonia than
destructive mines and dams. Thanks everyone and hope you have a very
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love, Damara