How one woman protected millions of acres
28 Oct 2021
THE first thing Kristine McDivitt Tompkins had to do when she arrived in Chile more than three decades ago was tear down fences. Demolishing 700 kilometers of barbed wire in the rough terrain that she and her husband bought was back-breaking work, but overcoming barriers in the minds of the locals was much harder. “
We were accused of being spies!” she says with a laugh. “Of hiding radioactive waste or of training a secret army for the CIA. The rumors were crazy.” The Chilean police tapped their phones, installed a police station nearby and watched their every step.
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