Huascarán National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Huascarán) is a protected area in Peru. It covers most of the Cordillera Blanca, which is the world's highest tropical mountain range and part of the central Andes in the Ancash region. The park spans 340,000 hectares (840,000 acres) and is managed by the Peruvian Network of Protected Natural Areas, called SERNANP (Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas). UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site in 1985. The park is famous for mountain climbing and has many unique plants and animals, including the Queen of the Andes plant, trees from the Polylepis and Buddleja genera, and animals like spectacled bears, condors, vicunas, and tarucas.

The park is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) long from north to south and averages 25 kilometers (16 miles) in width. The western side of the Cordillera Blanca carries water to the Pacific Ocean through the Santa River. The eastern side carries water to the Marañón River, which flows into the Amazon River and eventually reaches the Atlantic Ocean.

History

Official efforts to protect this area began in 1960, when Senator Augusto Guzmán Robles introduced a bill to the Peruvian Congress to establish Huascarán National Park. In 1963, the Forestry and Hunting Service (Servicio Forestal y de Caza) proposed a plan to define the boundaries of Cordillera Blanca National Park, covering 321,000 hectares (790,000 acres). On February 18, 1966, a government resolution was issued to stop logging and hunting of native species in the Cordillera Blanca area. Later that year, the Patronage of Huascarán National Park was created in Yungay. In 1967, Peace Corps volunteers Curry Slaymaker and Joel Albrecht suggested defining a boundary for an area of 85,000 hectares (210,000 acres). At the same time, the Forest Regional Service of Huaraz set up a surveillance zone for vicuña and queen-of-the-Andes in an area of about 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres). Finally, on July 1, 1975, Huascarán National Park was officially created by decree No. 0622-75-AG, covering 340,000 hectares (840,000 acres).

The exact boundaries of Huascarán National Park were determined by taking over private land through fair compensation. The park’s borders were designed to avoid including settlements when possible, though some communities still raise livestock, and park officials work to manage this activity.

In 1977, UNESCO recognized Huascarán National Park as a Biosphere Reserve, which includes the Santa River valley and extends beyond the park’s borders, covering many villages and towns. In 1985, the park was designated a World Heritage Site.

Geography

Huascarán National Park protects the Cordillera Blanca, which is the world's highest tropical mountain range. Located in the central Peruvian Andes, the park covers 340,000 hectares (840,000 acres) and spans a height range from about 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) to several snow-covered peaks above 6,000 meters (20,000 feet). These peaks include Huascarán (Peru's highest at 6,768 meters (22,205 feet)), Huandoy, Copa, Huantsán, and others.

Other features within the park include U-shaped valleys, 660 tropical glaciers (the largest area covered by glaciers in the tropics), 300 glacial lakes, and high plateaus crossed by deep ravines with fast-flowing streams.

Climate

The park has two clearly different seasons: a rainy season from December to March and a dry season from April to November. During the rainy season, thunderstorms often happen, and the fields and mountain slopes are covered in green colors. However, the dry season brings sunny days almost every day and clear skies with cold nights. In the rainy season, daily temperatures range from a high of 20 °C (68 °F) to a low of 5 °C (41 °F). In the dry season, temperatures range from a high of 24 °C (75 °F) to a low of 2 °C (36 °F).

Ecology

The Cordillera Blanca is the highest tropical mountain range in the world. It has many different climates, including subalpine, alpine, and tundra. The valleys and slopes of the mountains are covered with scattered high Andean forests and puna grasslands.

More than 120 bird species live in this area. These include the Andean condor, the torrent duck, the puna tinamou, the brown pintail, the Andean crested duck, the giant hummingbird, the yanavico, the white-tufted grebe, the giant coot, the chiguanco thrush, and the Andean gull.

More than ten mammal species have been seen in the park. Some of these animals are endangered. They include the colocolo, the Andean mountain cat, the spectacled bear, the taruca deer, the vicuña, the white-tailed deer, the puma, the northern viscacha, the long-tailed weasel, the hog-nosed skunk, and the Andean fox.

About 779 plant species have been identified in the park. One of the most important is the queen of the Andes (Puya raimondii), which is protected for conservation. Other plants found in the area include Polylepis racemosa, Escallonia resinosa, Alnus acuminata, Senna birostris, Vallea stipularis, Lupinus spp., Vaccinium floribundum, Calamagrostis vicunarum, Festuca dolichophylla, Jarava ichu, and Azorella spp., among others.

Activities

Visitors to the park can enjoy activities like hiking, wildlife watching, mountain biking, skiing, mountaineering, trekking, and cultural tourism. Huascarán has 25 trekking routes and 102 mountaineering spots.

The park also has opportunities for research in many scientific areas, such as meteorology, geology, glaciology, botany, limnology, zoology, ecology, and wildlife management.

There are 33 archaeological sites within the park. These include cave paintings, ancient settlements, agricultural terraces, tombs, fortresses, and irrigation works. There is also a pre-Columbian road connecting the towns of Olleros and Chavin.

Environmental issues

The main threats to the park include glaciers melting because of rising temperatures; the building of hydropower projects; mining activities, both legal and illegal, that do not follow strict environmental rules; and the loss of wildlife and plant species because land is used for farming and grazing. This last issue happens mainly because there is a disagreement between protecting the park and the local people's traditional rights to the land.