Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Petrified Forest to Be National Park

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 11 2008 (IPS) - Argentina’s parliament is studying a bill that would create a new national park in the southern province of Santa Cruz in order to preserve its unique petrified forest. The park ranger of the current Petrified Forest National Monument, Miguel Dedek, told Tierramérica that the change will allow application of national park rules in order to establish better conservation.

“We will be able to decide on zoning, a management plan and whether construction can take place,” said an optimistic Dedek.

The core area to be preserved are 5,000 hectares where there is a fossil field that consists of petrified tree trunks, with some standing erect. But the new park, already approved by the provincial government, will include some 70,000 hectares of steppe.

The fossils are the remains of the forest that existed 130 million years ago. Volcanic eruptions covered the area with ash and the petrification process began