Iberá National Park is a protected area in Argentina located in the northeast province of Corrientes. It is next to the Iberá Provincial Park, which covers 5,530 square kilometers, to the southeast. Both the national park and provincial park are part of the Iberá Provincial Nature Reserve, a protected area covering 13,245 square kilometers created in 1982. Together, these areas form the largest protected region in Argentina.
The national park helps protect part of the Iberá Wetlands, one of the world’s largest wetland areas. In 2002, a section of the wetlands covering 24,500 hectares (245 square kilometers) was recognized as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention.
Iberá National Park was established by an act of the Argentinian Congress on December 5, 2018. The park was created using lands that were once private cattle ranches. These lands were purchased starting in 1999 by the Conservation Land Trust–Argentina, a private group founded by conservationists Doug and Kristine Tompkins. In 2015, the Conservation Land Trust gave these lands to the Argentine government to create the park.
The Conservation Land Trust removed most of the cattle from the lands they acquired and stopped burning the land to grow more grass for cattle. Controlled fires are now used to help wild plants and animals recover. Fences inside the park were also removed to allow wildlife to move freely. The group hopes to develop eco-tourism that supports the local economy and helps protect the environment.
Iberá National Park, along with the larger Iberá protected area, is home to more than 4,000 species of plants and animals, including over 360 types of birds. The park is an important habitat for the vulnerable marsh deer and strange-tailed tyrant. It also has large populations of capybara, yacare caiman, and broad-snouted caiman. The park has helped reintroduce populations of jaguar, pampas deer, anteater, and red-and-green macaw.
Rewilding
In 2007, Tompkins Conservation started a rewilding program with nonprofit partners to bring back several native animals that no longer lived in the area during the 20th century. This work is now managed by Rewilding Argentina, a new organization that came from Tompkins Conservation. The program has brought back several species, such as the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), collared peccary (Dicotyles tajacu), South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), Pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus), bare-faced curassow (Crax fasciolata), red-and-green macaw (Ara chloropterus), and red-legged seriema (Seriema cristata). A captive breeding program for jaguars (Panthera onca) was created in large enclosures where jaguar cubs are taught to hunt prey so they can live independently in the wild. In January 2022, the first male jaguar was released into the park, increasing the total number of reintroduced jaguars to eight. Rewilding Argentina has also brought back the giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) and the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) to the park.
Wildfire
In January and February 2022, wildfires burned nearly 60% of the park. At least one fire was caused by a lightning strike, but many fires started on nearby cattle ranches. Using fire to manage cattle ranches and grasslands is a common practice in the area. However, climate change has made it harder to prevent fires from causing serious harm. Temperatures were higher than usual, and the area had been in a drought for two and a half years. These conditions allowed the fires to spread quickly. While the grasslands in Iberá have adapted to fire over time and rely on it, the forested areas of the park also burned. These forests usually do not experience fire, so their recovery will take longer. Many animals did not survive the fire because the drought left little water or safe places to escape. Many of the reintroduced animals were rescued by Rewilding Argentina.