Sadly, the global pandemic in 2020 meant that I had to go home shortly after my trip began. I returned home to Minnesota knowing that I wanted to go back to Chile someday.
The next year, I planned a trip to Chile during the summer to visit, and I had an amazing time making friends, exploring, and camping in the outdoors. I got to see a cool waterfall, made a new butterfly friend, and even hiked up a volcano!
During this trip something else happened: There were wild forest fires spreading throughout the region in which I was living. Because of the fires, the air was so clouded from the smoke that it was hard to see far away, and it smelled like smoke everywhere. I learned from some of my friends that these fires happened because of drought, and were made worse by invasive pine trees.
Invasive means that the plant is not natural to that part of the world, and was brought there from somewhere else. Invasive plants can be dangerouse because if they spread too much, they can take nutrients and water away from native (natural to the region) plants, leading them to die. Pine trees specifically are dangerous in Chile because they are highly flammable, meaning that they light on fire really easily. Also, pine trees require a lot of water to grow, meaning native trees get less water, especially during a drought.
Learning about the wildfires in Chile reminded me of my research project on drought in Africa from several years ago, and I got an idea! I wanted to come back to do a research project in Chile, this time on the forest fires and how invasive tree species might be causing them.
