Kristine "Kris" Tompkins (born June 1950) is an American conservationist. Tompkins is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation and was CEO of

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

for 20 years, leaving the company in 1993.

Early life

Born Kristine McDivitt in Southern California, Tompkins spent much of her childhood on her great-grandfather’s ranch. She lived in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

during her early years while her father worked for an oil company. She later studied at the

College of Idaho The College of Idaho (C of I) is a private liberal arts college in Caldwell, Idaho. Founded in 1891 by Rev. William Judson Boone as a Presbyterian college, it is the state's oldest private liberal arts college and has an enrollment of over ...

in Caldwell, where she competed in ski-racing.

At Patagonia, Inc.

In 1973, Tompkins returned to California and began working for

Yvon Chouinard Yvon Chouinard (born November 9, 1938) is an American rock climber, environmentalist, and businessman. His company, Patagonia, sells outdoor products, outerwear, and food. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by '' ...

, assisting him in transforming his small

piton A piton (; also called ''pin'' or ''peg'') in big wall climbing and in aid climbing is a metal spike (usually steel) that is driven into a crack or seam in the climbing surface using a Rock climbing hammer, climbing hammer, and which acts as an ...

business into Patagonia, Inc., eventually becoming the company's first CEO, a position she held until her retirement in 1993.

Conservation work

In 1993, Tompkins retired from

and married

Doug Tompkins Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 – December 8, 2015) was an American businessman, conservation movement, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. He founded the The North Face, North Face Inc, co ...

, founder of

The North Face The North Face is an American outdoor recreation products company. The North Face produces outdoor clothing, footwear, and related equipment. Founded in 1968 to supply climbers, the company's logo draws inspiration from Half Dome, a distinct ...

clothing company and co-founder of Esprit. The Tompkinses moved to Chile and focused on preserving national parks, establishing several nonprofit organizations, including the Conservation Land Trust, The Foundation For Deep Ecology, and Conservación Patagónica, which have now consolidated under Tompkins Conservation. In 1991, Doug Tompkins began acquiring private land for conservation in Chile’s Los Lagos, managing it as a public-access park within the threatened

Valdivian temperate rainforest The Valdivian temperate forests (NT0404) is an ecoregion on the west coast of southern South America, in Chile and Argentina. It is part of the Neotropical realm. The forests are named after the city of Valdivia. The Valdivian temperate rainfores ...

. Pumalín Park received official nature sanctuary status in 2005 and became a national park in 2018. This designation followed Tompkins Conservation's donation of nearly 725,000 acres to help establish the new park, Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, covering approximately 1 million acres and named in honor of its founder. The Tompkinses' conservation efforts expanded to Argentina, starting with the

Iberá Wetlands The Iberá Wetlands (, from Guaraní ''ý berá'': "bright water") are a mix of swamps, bogs, stagnant lakes, lagoons, natural slough, and courses of water in the center and center-north of the . Iberá is one of the most important freshwater r ...

of the

Corrientes Corrientes (; Guaraní: Taragui, literally: "Currents") is the capital city of the province of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from Buenos Aires and from Posadas, on National Route 12. It has ...

. In the wetland ecosystem, they launched projects to reintroduce extirpated species, such as the giant anteater, jaguar, red-and-green macaw, and giant river otter. The rewilding work in Ibera, and many other projects in the country, is now carried out by Rewilding Argentina, the team assembled by Kris and Doug, led by Sofia Heinonen. In January 2018, Tompkins and Chilean President

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018, becoming the first woman to hold the presidency. She was re-elected in December ...

signed decrees on behalf of Tompkins Conservation to create five new national parks in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and expand three others, adding a total of 10.3 million acres of new national parklands to Chile. One million acres of land came from Tompkins Conservation, with the Chilean government providing the rest in federally controlled land. At the time, it was reported as the largest donation of land from a private entity to a country in South America.

Recognition

Awards

* 2018 Luis Oyarzún Award granted by the

Universidad Austral de Chile Austral University of Chile ( or UACh) is a Chilean research university based primarily in Valdivia, with satellite campuses in Puerto Montt and Coyhaique. Founded on September 7, 1954, it is one of the eight original Chilean Traditional Univers ...

* 2017

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

Award for Corporate Citizenship granted by the

Woodrow Wilson Center The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank dedicated to research and policy discussions on global issues. Established by an act of Congress in 1968, it serves as both ...

* 2017

Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy The Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy is a private award for philanthropy, bestowed every second year to multiple people by the Carnegie family of institutions. In recent years the medal has been presented in New York. About the Medal The Carnegie ...

* 2017 Cynthia Pratt Laughlin Medal granted by the Garden Club of America * 2017 David R. Brower Award granted by the

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 26,000 members. The club is housed in the American Mountaineering Center (AMC) in Golden, Colorado. Through its members, the AAC advocates for American climbers d ...

References