Alerce Andino National Park is located in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

, in

Los Lagos Region Los Lagos Region ( es, Región de Los Lagos , ''Region of the Lakes'') is one of Chile's 16 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and Palena. The region contains ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. This national park covers about 393 km². It is bounded by the Reloncaví Estuary on its east and south sides, and by the

Reloncaví Sound Reloncaví Sound or ''Seno de Reloncaví'' is a body of water immediately south of Puerto Montt, a port city in the Los Lagos Region of Chile. It is the place where the Chilean Central Valley meets the Pacific Ocean. The Calbuco Archipelago comp ...

to the west (excluding a coastal fringe of a few km). To its north lies Chapo Lake. The park contains about 50

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s and natural

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from ...

s. Management of this and other national parks in Chile is entrusted to Corporacion Nacional Forestal, CONAF.

Flora

The centerpiece of this lush and mountainous protected area are the

Fitzroya ''Fitzroya'' is a monotypic genus in the cypress family. The single living species, ''Fitzroya cupressoides'', is a tall, long-lived conifer native to the Andes mountains and coastal of southern Chile, and only to the Andes mountains Argentina ...

cupressoides (locally known as ''Alerce'') forests, which consist of pure and mixed stands comprising a total surface of about 200 km².

Fauna

The park provides important habitat for species such as

pudú The pudus (Mapudungun ''püdü'' or ''püdu'', es, pudú, ) are two species of South American deer from the genus ''Pudu'', and are the world's smallest deer. The chevrotains (mouse-deer; Tragulidae) are smaller, but they are not true deer. The ...

and

monito del monte The monito del monte or colocolo opossum, ''Dromiciops gliroides'', also called ''chumaihuén'' in Mapudungun, is a diminutive marsupial native only to southwestern South America (Argentina and Chile). It is the only extant species in the ancient ...

. Alerce_Andino_National_Park_Waterfall.jpg, Waterfall of the Chaicas river, Alerce Andino National Park File:Alerce_Tree_in_Alerce_Andino_National_Park.jpg, Alerce (

) tree in the park File:Alerce_Andino_National_Park.jpg, Typical understory

References

Parque Nacional Alerce Andino

Greenpeace Chile
National parks of Chile Protected areas of Los Lagos Region Valdivian temperate forests Protected areas established in 1982 1982 establishments in Chile 1982 in Chilean law {{SouthAm-protected-area-stub