CONAF honors first female park ranger in Chile by baptizing important environmental center with her name

The National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) has honored the first female park ranger in Chile, Mirla Carrasco Kahler, in a ceremony held this Wednesday, March 22, in the Puyehue National Park in Los Lagos Region. 

She joined the former Reforestation Corporation in 1972, an institution that later gave way to the current CONAF. She was in charge of the Puyehue National Park Visitors Center, the first of its kind in Chile and Latin America, with the purpose of providing information to visitors about environmental education and the services available within this protected wildlife area. 

Mirla Carrasco was a pioneer in environmental conservation education, beating an inspirational path that has been followed by many CONAF officials, especially park rangers, throughout the country. 

The recognition includes her name being given to the Puyehue National Park Environmental Information Center and an information board with her story being installed. 

The activity was led by Christian Little, executive director of CONAF, who stated, “this is a very important milestone because it represents the transformation that we are promoting as a government, and within the corporation, to incorporate the work of women with a gender equity perspective. We also want it to mobilize women to continue working for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management.” 

Priscilla Carrasco, director of the National Women and Gender Equity Service, also participated in the ceremony. She explained that the honor is one of the milestones to mark Women’s History Month, indicating that “Mirla managed to break into spaces historically dominated by the presence of men. Her example represents the government’s transformational project for gender equity, which not only focuses on the number of women who occupy spaces, but also on the work we carry out and the decisions we make within those spaces.” 

Mirla Carrasco was emotionally grateful for the honor, indicating, “it is a source of pride that today the Puyehue National Park Environmental Information Center bears my name. I started working at a difficult time, so the call to the next generations of women park rangers is to take the risk and join this noble work for the conservation of national parks, reserves and monuments in the National System of State-Protected Wildlife Areas.” 

Also participating in the event were the mayoress of Puyehue, María Jimena Núñez; the regional secretary (SEREMI) of the Agriculture Ministry, Tania Salas; the head of CONAF Protected Wildlife Areas, Renzo Galgani; the regional director of CONAF, Miguel Ángel Leiva; the administrator of the Puyehue National Park, Ricardo Cárdenas; CONAF teams and park rangers; representatives of other public services in the region; and community stakeholders from the area.