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As part of TMI’s monitoring and evaluation program, historic landscape
photographs from 10 photopoints of the 1936 and 1939 German/Austrian climbing
and cartographic expeditions to the Cordillera Blanca (Huascarán
National Park) were replicated in 1997 and 1998. Comparisons revealed contemporary
changes in native forest cover, non-native forest cover, glacial recession,
grazing impacts, and urban expansion. Results indicated an apparent stability
and/or increase in native Polylepis forest cover [link]; significant regional
increases in non-native Eucalyptus and Pinus forest cover [link]; improved
pasture conditions in some areas [link]; widespread glacial recession [link];
and increases in regional urbanization [link]. Important management-related
questions in need of further study are identified, such as the impacts of
cattle on Polylepis regeneration, correlations between road construction
and forest loss, long-term impacts of non-native forests, and strategies
for the re-introduction of native forest species. Increasing the photographic,
quantitative, and oral database for the Huascarán National Park
and buffer zone will continue to provide important insights regarding
contemporary
landscape change processes, human vs. natural impacts, and future management
and restoration options.
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| German-Austrian climbing and cartographic expedition,
Huaraz, Peru, 1936 |
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