Chile's native forests include the world's second largest expanse of temperate rainforest, including the Valdivian Rainforest dominated by the siempre verde (“forever green”) forest type that is unique to southern Chile and Argentina. More than one-quarter of the world's remaining temperate rainforests are in Chile.

Ninety percent of the native forest-dependent species in Chile are endemic. These include the world’s smallest deer (the pudu) and a hummingbird that builds its nest entirely from moss and spiderwebs. Chile’s native forests are home to one of Birdlife International's designated Endemic Bird Areas. Tree species endemic to Chile include the alerce, whose typical lifespan (over 3,000 years) is exceeded only by California’s bristlecone pine, and the araucaria araucana or “monkey puzzle tree” that represents the world’s oldest surviving tree species.

The remarkable biological diversity of Chile’s forests has unfortunately met unrivaled destruction. From 1985 to 1995, Chile lost 4.5 million acres of native forest. These forests were destroyed largely to make way for industrial tree farms. As a result, Chile now has the world’s largest expanse of radiata pine tree farms and some of the world’s most endangered native forests. Conservation International has designated these forests as one of the world’s Top 25 Biodiversity Hot Spots. The World Wildlife Fund has listed Chile's temperate forests as one of the Southern Hemisphere's top forest ecoregion conservation priorities.

These forests will face increasing danger over the next 15 years as Chile’s wood products industry pursues its plans to double plantation acreage from more than 5 million acres today to more than 10 million acres by the year 2020. Substantial, additional subsidies for the planned expansion of these plantations are available under the newly extended version of Public Law 701 that will be in effect for at least 12 more years. Most analysts believe that expansion of non-native tree farms is the biggest threat to the survival of Chile’s native forests.

Radiata pine, a tree that is not native to Chile, is now the most abundant tree in Chile. The only purpose for this tree in Chile is the production of wood products. Chile’s radiata pine harvest now exceeds the timber harvest from British Columbia’s coast. In the U.S. Pacific Northwest, mills have turned to Chile’s radiata pine to feed demand for wood products such as moulding and fence posts.
The U.S. leads all other countries in the importation of solid wood products from Chile. The leading wood products imported are moulding, millwork, door and window parts, plywood and “cutstock” made from radiata pine. Today, the best way to make sure that these Chilean wood products do not contribute to the further destruction of Chile's magical and critically endangered forests is to insist that they be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Throughout the world, the FSC seal is recognized as the most credible assurance that a wood product was the result of forestry practices that do not endanger forests or indigenous peoples whose lives and culture depend upon the forests.

Basic Facts About Chile's Native Forests

• 90% of the species in Chile's native forests are found nowhere else in the world.
• One quarter to one-third of the world's remaining temperate rainforests are located in Chile.
• The araucaria tree and the alerce trees are two of the rarest tree species on the planet. The araucaria is the world's oldest surviving tree species (200 million years). The alerce's life span (3 to 4 thousand years) is second only to California's bristlecone pine.
• In one 10 year period (1985 to 1995), Chile lost 4.5 million acres of productive native forests.
• Three million acres of the tree farms in Chile are radiata pine--the largest expanse of planted radiata pine in the world. According to Global Forest Watch Chile, These non-native plantations have been established "in large part" by clearing native forests.
• Based upon "substitution" rates (the rate by which native forest is converted to non-native tree farms) documented by Chile's government, the wood products industry's plans to double the area of plantations in Chile could result in the loss of 2.5 million acres of native forests by the year 2020.
• 90% of all wood exported from Chile comes from its non-native tree farms.

Chile's forests may seem to be located "at the end of the Earth" - they form a biological island in the far reaches of the southern hemisphere, with the Pacific ocean to the west, Antarctica to the south, the Andes mountains to the east, and the world's dryest place, the Atacama Desert, to the north. Due to their biological isolation over hundreds of millions of years, Chile's forests include numerous plant and animal species unique to Chile. Unfortunately, Chile's rare and magical forests are not isolated enough to be beyond the reach of giant U.S. wood products companies intent upon maximizing their profits regardless of the ecological consequences.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

1. Do not buy moulding, plywood, doors, windows, porch posts or other pine products from Chile unless they are certified as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
2. If you buy any products from the following companies—BMC West, Oregon Pacific Building Products (Orepac), Timber Products Company, American Pine Products, Woodgrain Millwork, Windsor Mill, Kelleher, Sierra Pacific Industries, and Weyerhaeuser—make sure they buy only FSC certified wood products from their Chilean suppliers.
3. Write the North American Wholesale Lumber Association (nawla@lumber.org) and ask them to inform their 650+ members about the need to stop the expansion of non–native tree farms into Chile's native forests.

Download a copy of the new ForestEthics report on Chile's forest, 'Chilean Government Weak on Endangered Forest Protection'. (Click here to download the pdf.)

MORE INTERNET SITES

Defensores del Bosque Chileno

Ancient Forest International

Global Forest Watch Chile Maps