“We’re in the business of creating fully functioning ecosystems”: The U.S. couple that restored biodiversity in South America

When Wild Life came out in 2023, it landed at a moment when climate documentaries seemed to be everywhere. But it was one of the very few that felt personal. I think this was mainly because it never really tried to present Kris and Doug Tompkins as saints. The film, directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, was an emotional ride and, at times, surprisingly blunt about how difficult their project became once they started buying huge stretches of land in Chile and Argentina.

Looking back now, that may be what stayed with people most.

The film followed Doug, the late founder of The North Face brand and co-founder of Esprit, alongside Kris, the former Patagonia CEO, as they left behind corporate life and committed themselves fully to conservation. Their ambition sounded almost impossible at the time: buy massive areas of wilderness, restore them, then hand them over to become national parks.

But Wild Life never pretended the project was universally admired. Many people in Chile and Argentina initially distrusted the couple’s motives. Wealthy Americans purchasing land in Patagonia created not only suspicion and political backlash. Eventually that led to threats. Kris herself later explained to Deadline that she only agreed to participate in the documentary because she wanted it to feel “very candid” rather than becoming “some sort of fluff piece.”

Chin gave his side of this too.

Then came the tragedy that sits over the entire second half of the film.

In 2015, Doug died after a kayaking accident on Chile’s Lake General Carrera. Chin later recalled that some interviews became so emotional the crew had to stop filming because people behind the camera were crying. The grief never feels overly shaped for the screen. It just stays there in the background of everything.

What still feels remarkable is that the project did not stop with Doug’s death. Kris pushed forward, continuing the work that eventually helped protect around 15 million acres across Chile and Argentina.

And over time, the mission itself evolved.

“When we bought the first property in 1997 in Iberá, in northeastern Argentina, almost every creature was missing,” Kris said during the film’s press tour. Jaguars, giant anteaters and macaws had either vanished or were close to disappearing entirely.

That changed the direction of the work from conservation into rewilding.

“We’re in the business of creating fully functioning ecosystems,” she explained.

Kris expanded on many of the ideas from Wild Life in a later TED Talk (see above), where she elaborated on the rewilding as much more than conservation. “Landscape without wildlife is just scenery,” she said, explaining that protecting land alone was not enough if species had already disappeared.

She spoke about the shift to bringing various native animals. The bigger goal, she argued, was reconnecting habitats across South America through wildlife corridors that stretch beyond national borders.

There was also a reflective tone running through the talk. At 73, Kris admitted she would never see the final outcome of the work she and Doug Tompkins began decades ago. But that seemed to be part of the point. The project was always intended to outlast them.

“If your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime,” she recalled a friend once telling them, “you’re not thinking big enough.”

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