Guanaco management in Patagonian rangelands: a conservation opportunity in the brink of collapse.

BALDI, R, NOVARO, A, WALKER, S, FUNES, M, FERRANDO, P, FAILLA, M Y CARMANCHAHI, P.

Wild Rangelands: Conservation in the Wolrd’s Grazing Ecosystems.

Blackwell

Lugar: London; Año: 2007;

The guanaco is the only large, widely distributed native herbivore in the Southern Cone. However, guanacos have undergone a dramatic population decline, in particular during the 20th century from around 10 million to half a million individuals, after traditional sheep ranching overtook most of the Patagonian steppe. Competition with sheep, hunting and habitat degradation due to overgrazing resulted in substantially reduced guanaco densities, local extirpation, and restriction to marginal, low-quality habitat and fragmentation of guanaco populations. Protected areas encompass less than 1% of the 700,000 km2 of Patagonian steppe. High-density populations are rare and confined either in these scarce and small areas, or inhabiting remote or degraded places unsuitable for sheep ranching. Today, sheep ranching is still the main economic activity in Patagonia and guanaco poaching continues to be widespread. In addition, the few high-density populations of guanacos are under increasing pressure to be exploited for wool or meat production. During the last five years, several large sheep ranches in Argentina have begun managing guanacos by conducting live capture and shearing, producing high quality wool for export, but affecting many, and perhaps most, of the largest remaining populations. On the island of Tierra del Fuego the largest guanaco population in Chile is being culled for meat and to increase tree regeneration for lumber extraction. If properly managed, these types of use could help maintain and even promote the recovery of large populations in the matrix between protected areas. However, if improperly managed, or if these uses develop into guanaco farms, as some local managers advocate, the last opportunity to conserve the dominant wildlife species of the Patagonian steppe will be lost. We propose a series of measures, including research and management actions, to assess and promote the sustainable use of wild guanacos on Patagonian rangelands with the ultimate goals of recovering populations and promoting conservation of the great Southern Cone grasslands.