From a glacial valley to a watershed that regenerates
The valley is a glacial trough at 40° south. Lake Lácar fills it and — unusually for an eastern-Andean lake — drains westward to the Pacific via the Hua Hum river. The land is written by ice, fire, and wind: over the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone, beneath the Lanín–Villarrica volcanic chain, in the Araucaria–Nothofagus forest belt.
~1,048 km²
catchment area
ILEC
4,000 → <800 mm
west→east rain gradient
Sarandón et al. 2009
~10,500 ha
Curruhuinca titled territory
PASOS / Conti
Endangered
Araucaria araucana (pehuén)
IUCN 2013
Timeline — from deep time to the present
- Deep time
The glacial trough is cut
The Lácar basin forms, draining Pacific-ward via the Hua Hum. The Araucaria–Nothofagus forest establishes under a regime of fire, volcanism, and wind.
- Pre-contact
The Mapuche valley
Pehuenche and Mapuche peoples inhabit the Lácar valley. The pehuén is sacred; its piñones a staple. The Curruhuinca community historically dominated the whole valley.
- 1898
San Martín de los Andes is founded
A frontier town on the eastern Lácar shore.
- 1937
Lanín National Park is created
~216,000 ha under the Administración de Parques Nacionales (APN).
- 20th c.
Comanejo
The Curruhuinca territory (~10,500 ha) consolidates, alongside a relatively functional Mapuche–State co-management structure inside Lanín.
- 2006
Chapelco Golf · Law 26.160
The Jack Nicklaus-designed course opens; the town positions as a four-season boutique destination. Law 26.160 (Indigenous Territorial Emergency) is enacted.
- Jul 2024
RIGI (Law 27.742)
Large-investment incentive regime: 30-year stability, tax/FX benefits, US$200M floor.
- 10 Dec 2024
Law 26.160 is repealed
Decree nullifies the eviction suspension: tenure-conflict and FPIC risk rise on the very Lácar lakefront.
- Summer 2024–25
The worst fire season in 30 years
The Magdalena Valley fire burns ~23,844 ha in Lanín (confirmed 23 Feb 2025), destroying ancient araucarias. Patagonian losses >50,000 ha; recovery estimated at ~200 years.
- 2025–26
The convergence
NetxGen meets God Solutions and the land's custodians — Matías among eight families who cared for it ~30 years. The project takes the name LightHouse / Faro, for Benjamín Solari Parraviccini.
Resources & ecology
Water is the most verifiable asset today: a glacial, Pacific-draining basin, with a UNESCO-IHP ecohydrology precedent on the Lácar itself. But climate projections point to a −20% to −40% decline in water yield by late century. So the honest frame is watershed regeneration — forest as water yield — not extractive “water security.”
The Araucaria–Nothofagus forest is Endangered and disturbance-driven: ~49% of araucaria stands associate with lenga (N. pumilio) and coihue (N. dombeyi). Severe, short-interval fire favors replacement species and the loss of mycorrhizal function. Restore, don't merely conserve.
Honest note: water is abundant today, but the multi-decadal trend is decline. The regenerative frame is forest-as-water-yield.
Community
The Curruhuinca Mapuche community is the valley's enduring stewardship and the central social-license consideration. Lanín's comanejo is the ready-made co-governance template; free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is a design premise, not consultation theater.