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MONUMENTO
NATURAL BOSQUE PETRIFICADO
Province of Santa Cruz
This
protected area was created in 1954 to protect one of the best examples
of petrification - here of the forests which once covered Patagonia.
It is in the NE of the province of Santa Cruz some 150 km from the town
of Puerto Deseado in a WSW direction. The nearest locality is Jaramillo
135 km away.
At present the area is of 13,700 ha, but the National Parks Administration
has bought two neighbouring estancias to be included in the future, giving
a total of some 60,000 ha.
NATURAL ASPECTS
Some 130 million
years ago, during the Jurassic period, the climate in this area was wet
and stable. Forests of giant trees with species akin to present day Araucarias
prospered here. At the beginning of the Cretaceous massive volcanic activity
connected to the uplifting of the Andes, buried vast areas of Patagonia
in ash. Many of the forests thus covered suffered the process of petrification.
Much later, water and wind eroded the dry steppe that the area now is
and uncovered the petrified trees, some of which were still standing.
Low basalt hills are further remains of that volcanic activity of yore
and can be seen in the Madre e Hija mount which dominates the area and
can be seen from where the tree-trunks lie.
The nature of the present landscape offers interesting features for the
visitor. The sparse, low vegetation demonstrates the capacity of plants
to live in such a hostile environment. Plants of very different origin
adopt growth strategies which give them compact, semicircular shapes,
like cushions. Growing in this way are cactuses which bear large orange
flowers, composites with yellow or, more rarely, pinkish white flowers.
In sheltered valleys and gullies grow a series of bushes, including a
Berberis with its fleshy edible fruit.
Though the fauna is scarce and shy, thanks to protection some animals
are becoming accustomed to man's presence around the trails through the
petrified logs. Troops of guanacos and the patagonian gray fox are examples.
The rufous-collared sparrow and several species of lizard are easily watched.
On the road one could come across a patagonian pichi armadillo or the
lesser rhea, a large ostrich-like bird, greyish with white tips to the
feathers. The males do the incubating and rearing of the chicks for a
bunch of females.
CULTURAL ASPECTS
In prehistoric
times the area was used by hunter-gatherers, evidence of which is found
in the surface sites where they worked the stone, burial sites and quarries
where they got their raw material from the petrified wood. In this respect
they preferred the material from the Araucaria trunks for making their
arrowheads.
Their economy was benefited by the proximity of microhabitats in the area
which could be reached with ease - valleys, shallow lakes, marshy bottomlands,
high mesa, grasslands - the whole offering a gamut of resources throughout
the year: water, shelter, fire-wood, fauna (guanacos and the rhea), look-outs
and the availability of raw materials for making tools and weapons.
HOW TO
GET THERE
Access to the area is from route 3 half way between the
localities of Caleta Olivia in the north and San Julián in the
south. At kilometre post 2063 route 49 heads west for 50 km to the ranger
station.
OF
INTEREST TO THE VISITOR
There are no camping facilities in the Natural Monument. The visitor must
take water, food and gasoline as the nearest place to obtain these is
some 200 km away.
There is a 1000 yard trail through the area where the tree-trunks lie
on the surface and one can see giant petrified specimens of the forest
of bygone eras.
Thanks to APN - Administración
de Parques Nacionales
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