Students hike through the Chacabuco Valley surveying for guanaco. Photo: S. Holmes.
By Claudia Scognamillo, Patagonia Program Co-Director
Our Fall 2025 Patagonia Student Program has had an exciting and adventure-filled start! The semester began with academics led by visiting professor Rowena Hamer, an Australian ecologist based in Patagonia. Despite unusually wet camping trips caused by atmospheric rivers in the region, students embraced the challenging weather with curiosity and enthusiasm, learning about local flora and fauna along the way.
Students disembark to begin their first backpacking trip of the semester. Photo: J. Cruz.
Despite the wet weather, students stay in high spirits, excited for their first outing into the Patagonian backcountry. Photo: J. Cruz.
Early in the semester, the group joined a native plant restoration project in a community space in Cochrane, the program’s hometown. They also took part in local art and crafting workshops, exploring embroidery and leatherworking.
Students learning two cultural practices considered living heritage of the Aysén region: Baker River embroidery and soga (rope-making) techniques, guided by Marisol and Nelson – long-time residents of Los Ñadis. Photos: F. Alegría Morales.
Students planting young lenga, notro, calafate, and vaultro plants at a community planting day for the “Efecto Escualo” project. This project is helping to beautify the community space offered by Club Náutico Escualo and was completed alongside collaborators Naturaleza Pública and Descubriendo Cochrane. Photos (left to right): J. Cruz, C. Scognamillo, J. Cruz.
This season, the team successfully led the guanaco monitoring in Patagonia National Park, celebrating ten years of surveys and data collection. Together with local high school students, they walked more than 200 kilometers of transects, counted hundreds of guanacos, observed a puma outside of their campsite, and deepened their understanding of the steppe ecosystem and the park’s history.
The group sighted and recorded hundreds of guanaco while walking survey transects. Photo: S. Holmes.
The Fall 2025 Round River Patagonia cohort and high school students from Descubriendo Cochrane take a group photo in the Chacabuco Valley before heading out to walk transects surveying for guanaco. Photo: C. Scognamillo.
After spending a heartwarming week with local ranching families during homestays, students are now preparing for their next fieldwork outing — recording Magellanic Woodpecker nests and learning about this species’ fascinating biology.
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