Restricted Access Pilot Project: Interdisciplinary perspectives on clean energy production and landscape conservation in North Patagonia

This pilot project explores the ways in which the designation of certain forms of conservation landscape (for example national parks and other forms of protected areas) facilitate specific forms of environmentally damaging "non-conservation" activities outside of their borders. This invites a radical rethinking of conservation histories. We suggest that conservation landscapes cannot be studied without looking at the broader landscape management effects-the "salvation" of certain designated areas and the "sacrifice" this facilitates of others. We cannot understand the gazettal of protected buildings or landscapes without looking beyond the gazetted structure or reserved area to consider the negative actions which such conservation activity permits. Conservation landscapes are themselves often related to attempts by the state to restrict or control access-like the landscapes associated with nuclear power generation or nuclear waste disposal, national parks and other conservation areas are also landscapes of exclusion (Galison 2015). The project will explore these issues through a focus on the archaeological and heritage landscapes associated with the failed quest for nuclear fusion on Isla Humuel within Nahuel Huapi National Park near Bariloche in Argentina, and the ways in which this project facilitated the subsequent establishment of a working nuclear reactor and atomic research institute in the same town and park, and other geographically associated attempts to develop alternative energy sources in the form of hydroelectric power schemes, alongside their broader affects on the landscape. This pilot study will form the focus for the establishment of a transnational, interdisciplinary working group in preparation for the development of a broader project which will explore the relationship between conservation landscapes, statecraft, practices of power and relationships between "waste" and "wilderness" across Chile and Argentina in the Northern Patagonian region. The transnational North Patagonian Andean region is an area which has long been politically contested and in which the gazettal of the earliest national parks signals attempts to utilise protected areas to demark and impose sovereignty by both the Argentinean and Chilean states, and also an area that shares the paradoxical legacies of natural protection and the search for sustainable forms of energy extraction that invariably disrupt the natural environment. Over the past century this region has seen major changes in regional economies (in particular the shift from forestry to tourism), attempts to develop alternative forms of non-coal based power generation (including the development of both nuclear and hydroelectric power stations both within and immediately adjacent to conservation areas), changes in public policies (in particular relating to conservation and environmental protection of the Andean environment) and the creation of national parks (through the geographically mirrored parks of Nahuel Huapi in Argentina and Perez Rosales in Chile, located on each side of the Patagonian Andes). This makes it an ideal location in which to explore the past, present and futures of whole of landscape approaches to conservation and clean energy production. We aim to assemble an interdisciplinary, transnational network which would eventually enable us to consider how these historical and contemporary tensions might be considered collectively in the development of new policies and practices in clean energy production in the region.

The primary objective of this proposal is to undertake pilot research to demonstrate the potential for whole of landscape approaches to alternative energy development and the management of natural and cultural heritage. The project does this by undertaking historical and archaeological research into the connections between landscape conservation and alternative energy production, with a particular focus on nuclear power in Nahuel Huapi National Park. The research will produce insights which will supplement the work of conservation biologists at Comahue University currently preparing a Plan of Management for Isla Huemul within the national park for the Office of the Environment of the Municipality of Bariloche in consultation with the National Parks Service (NPS). We will contribute to the revision of the plan to generate a model for conservation management planning within the region which considers and integrates the management of a range of complex, sometimes conflicting values relating to biodiversity conservation, history, cultural heritage and sustainable energy development. Through fieldwork and networking activities we will sediment our developing relationship with NPS in Bariloche to facilitate the dissemination of this model within the region, drawing on existing cross-border conservation initiatives and networks between relevant park management agencies in Chile and Argentina.

Our second objective is to engage Balseiro Institute/CNEA staff in the broader landscape conservation management issues which relate to their work on clean energy development, and we will prepare a 'pop up' exhibition which will communicate the results of our preliminary fieldwork on the Huemul Atomic project and its broader context in relation to the histories of conservation, power generation and statecraft, connecting them with contemporary issues relating to the politics and practices of 'whole-of-landscape' approaches to clean energy production, to accompany the workshop which we will run at the Balseiro Institute. The institute have particular interests in sustainable approaches to clean energy production and scientific communication. We will utilise our strong existing contacts with Balseiro Institute communications staff, who are committed to collaborate directly to develop this 'pop-up' exhibition with us to ensure it delivers impact in reaching relevant staff at CNEA and the Balseiro Institute, and to assist with coordinating our workshop. The exhibition will be developed as a direct outcome of the interdisciplinary workshop and pilot fieldwork and will assist with ongoing (post workshop) recruitment of researchers to form part of the wider interdisciplinary network we will establish, as well as communication of our work to relevant stakeholders.

Our tertiary aim is to build capacity for researchers in Chile and Argentina by developing a network to open pathways to possible future research development on clean energy and "whole-of-landscape" conservation practices in Argentina and Chile.

We will evaluate the effectiveness of these activities and the extent to which the network has been sustained through follow-up with participants within the grant period. Longer term impact will be assessed subsequently through further fieldwork funded as part of the PI's role as AHRC Priority Area Leadership Fellow in Heritage.