Alerce Temperate Rainforests In The Reserva Costera Valdiviana, Los Rios Region, Southern Chile Royalty-Free Stock Photo

Alerce -Fitzroya cupressoides- is a tall and long-lived conifer similar in size and aspect to North America’s Sequoya trees. The Valdivian Coastal Reserve is a natural reserve located in Los Rios Region of central-southern Chile, near Corral and the city of Valdivia. It harbours one of the world’s best remaining sectors of Alerce temperate rainforest, which have been all but destroyed due to the unsustainable and unchecked expansion of the Chilean wood and paper industry. The Chilean government has been unable or unwilling to limit such expansion, with the result that the extraordinarily biodiverse Alerce forests have been practically wiped out and the indigenous Mapundun Mapuche peoples have often been illegally evicted of their land.