The Patagonian Land Conservation Trust

Over the past few months we have been working closely with the Patagonian Land Conservation Trust (PLCT) to put together a new website and produce a series of short videos about the important work that this non-profit is doing in Argentina. Today we are very happy to announce the launch of this new website!

The Andean Condor, just one of Patagonia’s many emblematic animals. Photo by Dennis Fitzpatrick.

The Patagonian Land Conservation Trust was founded in 2011 with the goal of conserving Patagonia’s landscape and ecosystems through the establishment of Argentina’s very first conservation easements. While conservation easements have been utilized in the US as a tool for conserving privately owned land since the late 1970s, Argentine law does not have the same precedent for such an agreement. The PLCT plans to use what has been learned in the US over the past several decades to help conserve land in Patagonia. The PLCT has partnered with The Nature Conservancy, which has played a leading role in the development of conservation easements in the US, as well as the Argentine non-profit Fundación para Conservación de Tierras Patagónicas. Working together, these groups have targeted three Patagonian Estancias for their first easement projects.

Conservation easements in Patagonia will protect traditional ranching practices as well as ecosystems and wildlife. Photo by Dennis Fitzpatrick.

Co-founder and board president of the PLCT is Dennis Fitzpatrick, who also serves as the CEO and Chairman of D.B. Fitzpatrick, a Boise-based investment advisory firm. One of Dennis’ many passions is for flying fixed-wing aircraft and gathering aerial video footage. We were fortunate enough to have Dennis’ assistance while shooting for our half hour documentary Bluebird Man – he took Wild Lens producer Neil Paprocki and myself on aerial footage-gathering flights over the Owyhee Range as well as the small town of Prairie, ID.

Dennis alongside his plane in the Owyhees. Photo by Neil Paprocki.

For the PLCT website, Dennis shared with us his archive of aerial footage from Patagonia. With the goal of showing website visitors the unmatched beauty of Patagonia, we dug into Dennis’ archive and began piecing together a video that would show a bird’s eye view of this spectacular landscape. The resulting video can be seen on the new PLCT site when you click, “A Bird’s Eye View of Patagonia” along the left side menu. Shorter videos highlighting aerial footage from each of the three conservation easement sites can be seen on the new website as well. Just click on the, “Our Conservation Easements” tab to learn more about these Patagonian Estancias that the PLCT is working to protect.

We are excited to continue working with the PLCT moving forward, with plans to produce additional videos highlighting their conservation work. We’ll have more updates from the PLCT very soon as they work towards the establishment of Patagonia’s first conservation easements!