Altos de Lircay National Reserve is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

located in

Talca Province Talca Province ( es, Provincia de Talca) is one of four provinces of the central Chilean region of Maule (VII). Its capital is the city of Talca. Administration As a province, Talca is a second-level administrative division of Chile, governed b ...

Maule Region The Maule Region ( es, Región del Maule, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region derives its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a ...

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 ...

. It lies in a pre-

Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...

area close to

Radal Siete Tazas National Park Radal Siete Tazas National Park () is a national park located in Curicó Province, Maule Region, Chile. It lies in a pre-Andean area close to Descabezado Grande volcano. History This protected area was reclassified as a national park in 2008. ...

, as well as

Descabezado Grande Descabezado Grande (also ''Cerro Azul'' or ''Quizapu''WebpagOVDAS, about Descabezado Grande, retrieved on 28 October 2013) is a stratovolcano located in the Maule Region of central Chile. It is capped by a ice-filled caldera and named for its fl ...

and Cerro Azul volcanoes. The reserve is home to a significant variety of wildlife including rare and threatened animals such as the Tricahue parrot,

Molina's hog-nosed skunk Molina's hog-nosed skunk, also called the Andes skunk (''Conepatus chinga''), is a skunk species from South America. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, and Uruguay, at elevations up to 5000 m. Habitat The Molina' ...

and plants such as the ciprés de la cordillera and roble Maulino. In the area can be found seven of the ten species of the genus ''

Nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

'' occurring in Chile. There are three major rivers in the reserve, the Lircay that is a tributary of the Claro River, the Claro that flows north to south through the reserve, and the Blanquillo that joins the latter river in the reserve.

References

Supreme Decree 59, 1996, Ministry of Agriculture of Chile
National reserves of Chile Protected areas of Maule Region {{SouthAm-protected-area-stub