Farming the Chaco: Tales from both sides of the fence

Journal of Arid Environments, 2015

In most tropical and subtropical biomes, conservation strategies are mainly focused on the preservation of forests. However, neotropical dry forest and savanna ecoregions include open habitats that may deserve conservation attention. We analyzed the historical patterns and potential distribution of natural grasslands, as well as their biodiversity in the northern Argentina dry Chaco, which is one of the largest and yet most rapidly transforming neotropical ecoregions. Paleocological literature, historical records, and bioclimatic modeling support the hypothesis that Chaco grasslands distribution was more extended in the past, and has been historically reduced by woody encroachment resulting from environmental changes occurred in the past century. Recent research shows that natural grasslands host distinctive components of the Chaco biodiversity, and a significant proportion of the vertebrate species have a negative association with woody biomass. Ongoing land use trends continue to threaten native grasslands both in unprotected sectors (where they are converted into agriculture and planted pastures) and inside protected areas (were fire suppression is favoring woody encroachment). Current conservation policies (Protected Areas, Argentine forest law, REDDþ) neglect the importance of native grasslands for biodiversity conservation. Such forest-centered initiatives should be revised to specifically include native grasslands and their biodiversity into land use strategies that adequately balance agriculture and livestock production with biodiversity conservation.

The Dry Chaco is mostly known as a forested ecosystem. However it includes natural grasslands, savannas, scrublands, and wetlands. With one of the highest global deforestation rates in the last two decades and only 12% of the area protected, the concern about land-use change in this ecoregion has raised exponentially; but conservation initiatives developed in last years almost exclusively targeted forests whereas natural grasslands and savannas remain as neglected ecosystem within scientific and governmental agendas. While currently the distribution of natural grassland and savanna area encompasses over 20,000 km 2 , historical records and spatial models indicate that natural grassland and savannas were more widespread in pre-European era. Two main reasons drove this reduction in natural grasslands and savannas: woody encroachment by fire suppression and overgrazing, and conversion to agriculture and implanted pastures. In this article, through a combination of analyzes and bibliographic revisions, we describe biotic and abiotic components of natural grassland and savannas of the Dry Chaco. We also present the current distribution and conservation status of these ecosystems, and describe the process of change and the ecological consequences for biogeochemical cycles and biologic interactions. To provide basis for management, we estimate current grazing stocking rates on natural grasslands and savannas of Argentine Dry Chaco and we propose an alternative approach to sustainably intensify the use of these ecosystems and improve cattle rancher livelihoods. Despite the existent knowledge about natural grasslands and savannas in the region, we believe that is necessary to motivate the scientific community and national institutions to increase efforts to reconcile the restoration and conservation of these particular rangelands.

2019

Pedro D Fernández, Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Tucumán, Argentina; Instituto de Ecología Regional, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina Baumann Matthias, Geography Department, Humboldt-University Berlin, Berlin, Germany Baldi Germán, Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis, Universidad Nacional de San Luis & CONICET, San Luis, Argentina Banegas R Natalia, Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Tucumán, Argentina Bravo Sandra, Instituto de Silvicultura y manejo de Bosques, Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero, Santiago del Estero, Argentina Gasparri N Ignacio, Instituto de Ecología Regional, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina; Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina Lucherini Mauro, GECM, Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas y Biomédicas ...

Ethnobiology and Conservation, 2021

The Dry Chaco (DCH) is a biodiversity-rich region that contains the largest dry forest in the world. It is seriously endangered and has one of the fastest deforestation rates. Yet, very few conservation efforts have been undertaken to protect this ecosystem, and information to develop efficient and sustainable land-use plans is scarce. This study aimed to design a conservation landscape that would maximize the conservation of the DCH's ecological integrity, endangered species, and ecological and evolutionary processes. Five focal species of high conservation value were chosen based on their ecological roles, conservation status, or endemism: white-lipped peccary Tayassu pecari, chacoan peccary Catagonus wagneri, giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla, tapir Tapirus terrestris, and giant armadillo Priodontes maximus. We used interviews with local informants to obtain information on species presence and location. Their habitat suitability was modelled and ranked using Maxent software. A conservation landscape was designed by overlapping these spatially explicit models. A systematic conservation planning framework was followed, considering habitat connectivity using Zonation. Interviews proved to be useful for conservation planning in this region with longstanding close ethnozoological relationships. The spatial design obtained was compared with existing land-use policies and protected areas to discuss conservation strategies that could be efficient if applied in the DCH and considering land sharing vs. land sparing conservation strategies. There is a large surface of suitable habitat for the studied species, but their conservation cannot be ensured with the present conservation schemes. We consider land-sharing as a feasible conservation strategy for this region and its species, and identified areas that should be preserved and their optimal connections to increase conservation opportunities for the Dry Chaco.

The Greater Chaco Landscape, 2021

Both the JMP and the World Heritage listing noted the potential for future conflicts between energy development and site protection. See Appendix II. For 40 years, the NPS and other agencies, Tribes, and industry have attempted to address potential conflicts between energy development and the expanding understanding of the Chaco world and landscape, in and beyond the energy-rich San Juan Basin. Indeed, one of the first comprehensive "outlier" surveys was sponsored by the Public Service Company of New Mexico in cooperation with the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division (Marshall, Stein, Loose and Novotny 1979), to identify outlier great houses for future management of energy development. Another early extensive "outlier" survey was sponsored by the National Park Service (Powers, Gillespie and Lekson 1983). One of the few comprehensive excavations of an "outlier" in modern times was at Bis sa'ani, in advance of a coal mine that was never developed (Breternitz, Doyel, and Marshall 1982). In the following decades, numerous studies in the San Juan Basin have addressed the impacts of energy development on Chacoan archaeology, but never on the scale of the landscape studies of the 1980s. Given (1) the significant growth of knowledge about the Chaco world since the 1980s, (2) the increasing sophistication in both archaeology and historic preservation regarding landscapes, and (3) the renewed interest in energy development in the Chaco region, a new management philosophies seems warranted. III. Landscape: Theoretical Background Over the past two decades, landscape has emerged as a unifying concept for the archaeological study of place and social reality (e.g., Ashmore and Knapp 1999). Prior to 1980 (when Chaco was made a National Park) the term was seldom used in American archaeology. Indeed, Chaco and its region was one of the first places southwestern archaeology seriously considered landscape (Stein and Lekson 1992); and since that time, southwestern archaeology has lead the field in developing new methods and concepts, which now form a recognized "southwestern school" of landscape studies (Fowles 2010). We now have a broad range of concepts, theories, methods and tools which were unavailable in 1980s and 1990s. Many current areas of archaeological and anthropological interest, including identity, ethnicity, ritual, power, and ideology intersect at the nexus of landscape. In the Southwest U.S., the term landscape is invoked by archaeologists straddling a wide range of epistemological positions. Some equate landscape with settlement patterns, examining the changing and variable distributions of people and resources across space. GIS analyses have figured prominently for these researchers. Some IV. Defining the Chaco Landscape : Part I-Material Expressions Archaeologists have long recognized that Chaco reaches well beyond the confines of Chaco Canyon (Gladwin 1945; Martin 1936; Morris 1939; Roberts 1932). Canyon great houses provide the archetype through which outlier great houses have been identified. Until the 1970s, these "outliers" were investigated in a piecemeal fashion. Oil and gas developments in the 1970s and 80s led to the first major attempts to locate and record outliers and associated features across the Chaco World (Marshall et al. 1979). During this period, the Chaco Project and the BLM sponsored large-scale, landscape-level investigations (Fowler et al. 1987; Kincaid 1983; Nials et al. 1987; Powers et al. 1983). The application of large-scale pedestrian surveys and aerial reconnaissance in the 1970s revealed the existence of ancient roads associated with Chacoan structures. At least eight road segments, three of them major, extend into the San Juan Basin from Chaco Canyon. More recent uses of aerial thermography, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and other geophysical methods continue to reveal additional sites and features but have, as yet, only been applied to relatively small areas of the Chaco landscape. Marshall and Sofaer (1988) continued to investigate outliers with a focus on road-related features, shrines, and archaeoastronomy. In 1983-84, Powers directed a fullcoverage survey of new lands around Kin Bineola, Kin Klizhin, Chacra Mesa, Upper Kin Klizhin, and the South Addition (Powers and Van Dyke 2015). Most of the information compiled by these authors is located in government documents or grey literature (exceptions include Doyel 1992; Kantner and Mahoney 2000, Chaco Project survey data, and Additional Lands survey data). Kantner (2003; Kantner and Kintigh 2006) collated a "Chaco World" database of known outliers for the Chaco Synthesis (Lekson ed. 2006). These data are available through the Chaco Research Archive (chacoarchive.org). In recent years, the Chaco World database has been updated and expanded by Van Dyke et al. (2016) and Matt Peeples, working with Archaeology Southwest. Efforts are currently underway as part of the current Chaco Landscapes project to reconcile the three disparate geospatial datasets and share those data with land managers and researchers. The process of reconciling these three data sources has also brought to light some of the major gaps in our knowledge about many of these great house communities. Our understanding has evolved dramatically in recent decades-bringing to light new dimensions of the Chaco landscape and locations for further study. Features and attributes of the greater Chaco landscape have been catalogued in different ways by researchers. A short list of material signatures found on the Chaco landscape includes the following: (1) monumental architecture

2016

Both the JMP and the World Heritage listing noted the potential for future conflicts between energy development and site protection. See Appendix II. For 40 years, the NPS and other agencies, Tribes, and industry have attempted to address potential conflicts between energy development and the expanding understanding of the Chaco world and landscape, in and beyond the energy-rich San Juan Basin. Indeed, one of the first comprehensive "outlier" surveys was sponsored by the Public Service Company of New Mexico in cooperation with the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division (Marshall, Stein, Loose and Novotny 1979), to identify outlier great houses for future management of energy development. Another early extensive "outlier" survey was sponsored by the National Park Service (Powers, Gillespie and Lekson 1983). One of the few comprehensive excavations of an "outlier" in modern times was at Bis sa'ani, in advance of a coal mine that was never developed (Breternitz, Doyel, and Marshall 1982). In the following decades, numerous studies in the San Juan Basin have addressed the impacts of energy development on Chacoan archaeology, but never on the scale of the landscape studies of the 1980s. Given (1) the significant growth of knowledge about the Chaco world since the 1980s, (2) the increasing sophistication in both archaeology and historic preservation regarding landscapes, and (3) the renewed interest in energy development in the Chaco region, a new management philosophies seems warranted. III. Landscape: Theoretical Background Over the past two decades, landscape has emerged as a unifying concept for the archaeological study of place and social reality (e.g., Ashmore and Knapp 1999). Prior to 1980 (when Chaco was made a National Park) the term was seldom used in American archaeology. Indeed, Chaco and its region was one of the first places southwestern archaeology seriously considered landscape (Stein and Lekson 1992); and since that time, southwestern archaeology has lead the field in developing new methods and concepts, which now form a recognized "southwestern school" of landscape studies (Fowles 2010). We now have a broad range of concepts, theories, methods and tools which were unavailable in 1980s and 1990s. Many current areas of archaeological and anthropological interest, including identity, ethnicity, ritual, power, and ideology intersect at the nexus of landscape. In the Southwest U.S., the term landscape is invoked by archaeologists straddling a wide range of epistemological positions. Some equate landscape with settlement patterns, examining the changing and variable distributions of people and resources across space. GIS analyses have figured prominently for these researchers. Some IV. Defining the Chaco Landscape : Part I-Material Expressions Archaeologists have long recognized that Chaco reaches well beyond the confines of Chaco Canyon (Gladwin 1945; Martin 1936; Morris 1939; Roberts 1932). Canyon great houses provide the archetype through which outlier great houses have been identified. Until the 1970s, these "outliers" were investigated in a piecemeal fashion. Oil and gas developments in the 1970s and 80s led to the first major attempts to locate and record outliers and associated features across the Chaco World (Marshall et al. 1979). During this period, the Chaco Project and the BLM sponsored large-scale, landscape-level investigations (Fowler et al. 1987; Kincaid 1983; Nials et al. 1987; Powers et al. 1983). The application of large-scale pedestrian surveys and aerial reconnaissance in the 1970s revealed the existence of ancient roads associated with Chacoan structures. At least eight road segments, three of them major, extend into the San Juan Basin from Chaco Canyon. More recent uses of aerial thermography, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and other geophysical methods continue to reveal additional sites and features but have, as yet, only been applied to relatively small areas of the Chaco landscape. Marshall and Sofaer (1988) continued to investigate outliers with a focus on road-related features, shrines, and archaeoastronomy. In 1983-84, Powers directed a fullcoverage survey of new lands around Kin Bineola, Kin Klizhin, Chacra Mesa, Upper Kin Klizhin, and the South Addition (Powers and Van Dyke 2015). Most of the information compiled by these authors is located in government documents or grey literature (exceptions include Doyel 1992; Kantner and Mahoney 2000, Chaco Project survey data, and Additional Lands survey data). Kantner (2003; Kantner and Kintigh 2006) collated a "Chaco World" database of known outliers for the Chaco Synthesis (Lekson ed. 2006). These data are available through the Chaco Research Archive (chacoarchive.org). In recent years, the Chaco World database has been updated and expanded by Van Dyke et al. (2016) and Matt Peeples, working with Archaeology Southwest. Efforts are currently underway as part of the current Chaco Landscapes project to reconcile the three disparate geospatial datasets and share those data with land managers and researchers. The process of reconciling these three data sources has also brought to light some of the major gaps in our knowledge about many of these great house communities. Our understanding has evolved dramatically in recent decades-bringing to light new dimensions of the Chaco landscape and locations for further study. Features and attributes of the greater Chaco landscape have been catalogued in different ways by researchers. A short list of material signatures found on the Chaco landscape includes the following: (1) monumental architecture

Greater Chaco Landscape, ed. Ruth Van Dyke and Carrie Heitman, 2021

Just what the title says: a personal history of Chaco regional research.

Nova salamandra al mondo»: studi per il centenario di Gaspara Stampa, a cura di Daria Perocco, 2023

Il saggio indaga le ragioni della comparsa di testi femminili pubblicati a Venezia tra il 1540 e il 1560: l'effervescenza del mondo editoriale e l'accresciuta alfabetizzazione delle donne, nonché la comparsa del pubblico dei lettori e di un maggior numero di scrittrici; la presenza di molti giovani editori non veneziani che cercavano di integrarsi anche attraverso i salotti delle cortigiane letterate; un ambiente più promiscuo e aperto a nuovi stili di vita e di relazione tra i sessi; una corrente filoginista che influenzò alcuni editori. Tra il 1540 e il 1560 le stamperie veneziane pubblicarono molte opere scritte da donne. Il saggio illumina le ragioni di tale accoglienza, dipesa da un lato dall'effervescenza del mondo editoriale lagunare e dall'accresciuta alfabetizzazione delle donne, nonché dalla comparsa del pubblico di lettrici e di un maggior numero di scrittrici. Un ruolo decisivo si deve anche alla presenza di alcuni giovani letterati, per lo più non veneziani, che giunsero in città per lavorare come traduttori, editori e consulenti nelle officine tipografiche: costoro cercarono di integrarsi anche attraverso la frequentazione dei salotti delle cortigiane letterate. L’ambiente culturale veneziano era infatti aperto a nuovi stili di vita e di relazioni tra i sessi e una corrente filogina influenzò alcuni editori.

Este amparo se presentó porque la empresa encargada de la disposición final de los RSU creó un basural a cielo abierto y no un relleno sanitario.