Iberá National Park in northeast Argentina

Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features Iberá National Park in northeast Argentina. The park was created in 2018 by conservation groups who acquired 530 square miles of land and then donated it to the government of Argentina.

Iberá National Park is home to about 4,000 species of wildlife, which includes nearly 30 percent of the species that are known to exist in Argentina.

Decades ago, the land was used for a cattle ranch. Reporting for NASA, Adam Voiland explains that after philanthropists bought the land, hundreds of miles of fences were taken down and cattle were moved out of the area. 

As the land naturally transforms itself back to grasslands and forest, conservationists are planning a rewilding program. The goal is to bring back the animals that were once pushed out of the area, such as jaguars, giant river otters, pampas deer, collared peccary, red-and-green macaw, bare-faced curassow, and the red-legged seriema.

Iberá National Park and Iberá Provincial Park are part of the larger Iberá Provincial Reserve. With an area of about 5,000 square miles, the reserve covers nearly 15 percent of the Corrientes province, and is the largest protected area in the country.

Iberá Provincial Reserve has a variety of wetland ecosystems, including swamps, bogs, stagnant lakes, lagoons, and natural sloughs.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/ Lauren Dauphin

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Editor

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