This past week I received a grant that will allow me to travel to Chile in January of 2016. I will be conducting interviews in three different regions of the country starting in Santiago, traveling to Cajon del Maipo, moving down towards Santa Barbara, and finally to Futaleufú. This opportunity will provide me with an incredible opportunity to gather and contrast different perspectives from a wide variety of watershed stakeholders. I hope to speak with many locals, members of the outdoor adventure industry, NGO employees, political figures, and people directly employed by the developers of large hydro projects. The rivers I will be concentrated on are the Maipo, Futaleufú, and Bió Bió. My goal is to collect solid research that will provide a platform for the core of my ENVS senior thesis.
Investigations by Lydia Bleifuss