The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 30

C6 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1994 WASHINGTON EDITION LOS ANGELES TIMES Environment 1 rX 3 4 3 At Plwcoi by WILLIAM R. LONG Los Angeles Tunes displaced by the Pangue, but its influence on nearby native communities has been the subject of heated debate. The company-brochure says the dam may lead to accelerated loss of Pehuenche cultural identity, if countermeasures are not taken, but argues that it will help relieve the extreme poverty of the communities. Pangue S. A.

says the project will provide up to 2,500 jobs at the peak of construction and the reservoir will be a valuable future center for income-producing recreation and tourism. In response to criticism, the Endesa subsidiary has created foundations for promoting community development and for ecological preservation. "It is in the interest of Endesa that the environmental impact be the least possible," said Esteban Skoknic, a company planning engineer. The chieftains of two Pehuenche communities on the Upper Bio-Bio have taken jobs with Endesa and support the dam project, but five others oppose it. "We don't want to work for Endesa," said one, 82-year-old Manuel Neicuman.

"We want them to leave our lands alone so that we can pass them on to our sons." Neicuman, Curriao and three other Pehuenche chieftains gathered on a recent Sunday at a cabin downstream from the Pangue construction site. With them was Rodrigo Valenzuela, an anthropologist with the Action Group for the Bio-Bio. "To the extent that the Mapuche loses his ties to the earth, he is losing part of his identity," the anthropologist said. Pangue is more than one-third finished and impossible to stop, its opponents concede. Preliminary plans for the second Bio-Bio dam, called Ralco, have recently been submitted by Endesa for consideration by the National Energy Commission.

Ralco's reservoir would cover more than 8,000 acres, dwarfing the Pangue lake. Valenzuela said Ralco would displace 300 Pehuenche families; Skoknic said Endesa estimates that 90 families would have to be moved. But Valenzuela emphasized the impact would not be limited to displaced families. With Ralco, much more of the Bio-Bio's beautiful and ecologically unusual canyons and valleys would be inundated, as would those of some tributary rivers. With new roads, land companies would buy up acreage and lumbering would spread into previously inaccessible areas, he said.

More roads, more construction jobs and more outside influence would undermine Pehuenche culture. "In economic, social and cultural terms it is the end of a people, its extermination," said Valenzuela. v- being built. Plans have provoked protests. Greet C.

If A huge hydroelectric dam threatens a way of life for the Pehuenches people. It symbolizes the struggle between development and preservation. By WILLIAM R. LONG TIMES STAFF WRITER RALCO, Chile In the mountain watershed of the Upper Bio-Bio River dwell wide-ranging communities of Pehuenches, the Araucaria Pine People. When autumn unfurls the cones of the araucaria pine, families move through the woods gathering its nuts, an important part of their diet.

They cherish and protect the stately tree almost as kin. "To cut down an araucaria pine is like putting a mother to death, because that is what feeds our people," explained Jose Antolin Curriao, a Pehuenche chieftain. Such ancient traditions may soon be tested in a time of change on the Bio-Bio. Curriao and other Pehuenches are alarmed by dam construction on the river, fearing that their homeland of wooded mountains and roaring rivers, the essence of their culture, will be spoiled forever. After futile protests and failed legal suits by opponents of development, workers and machines already are building the Bio-Bio's first hydroelectric dam near this village, 300 miles south of Santiago.

A much bigger second dam, still in the planning stages, would displace some 1,800 Pehuenches from their ancestral lands, their supporters say. "Our community would disappear," said Curriao, 60. "We want to follow the example of our ancestors. We don't want to disappear." The Pehuenches are not the only ones worried about dam projects on the Bio-Bio. Sports enthusiasts, for instance, have flocked to the river in recent years because it provides a spectacular white water rafting experience.

But its most thrilling rapids will be inundated if the second dam is built. Ecologists, meanwhile, warn that important habitats for some species of fish and other wildlife are endangered by the dam projects, which also will put pressure on the fragile alpine environment flanking the river. University engineers who have studied the area say dams could disrupt the ecological balance of the whole Bio-Bio basin, one of Chile's most important river systems. An environmental organization called Action Group for the Bio-Bio is leading the campaign against the hydroelectric projects, and the Bio-Bio has become a prime symbol of the contest between economic development and environmental preservation in South America. A couple of decades ago, few people in South America worried about protecting wilderness areas from the onslaught of development.

That was a problem for North America, where vast natural tracts had been tamed in the name of progress. The process was still young in the southern reaches of the hemisphere; the desire for development overshadowed environmental cautions here. In recent years, however. South Americans have awakened to the dangers of degrading their natural environment as environmental and conservation movements have gained increasing strength and influence. i Ml i 1 1 HOT! children scramble up a path from river.

VA BOLIVIA CHILE 1 ARGENTINA Pichitomu 111 "1 Santiago 5v tr Upper Bio-Bio River and construction Fur Chile's for The shrinking Amazon rain forest has received much of the attention, but Amazonia is not the only part of South America where nature is in trouble. From the majestic Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia to the chill forests of Tierra del Fuego, ecological damage is advancing at often alarming rates. There is so much wilderness in South America that it sometimes seems hard to focus on piecemeal destruction and localized threats. In southern Chile, hydroelectric dams on several formerly pristine rivers are a widely accepted part of this country's impressive development thrust. The Chilean economy has grown at an average of more than 6 a year for the past decade.

More energy is needed to keep the economic dynamo turning, and the southern rivers are an abundant source of power. Meanwhile, however, development also is beginning to pollute the clear waters of many southern Chilean lakes. And chain saws are ripping through native forests, already shrunken by earlier settlement and exploitation. The struggle over the Bio-Bio has become an emblematic showdown partly because it is a historic frontier as -well as a strikingly beautiful river that tumbles watch. The surf at Punta de Lobos (Wolves' Point), about three miles south of town, can be spectacular on good days: waves of 15 feet and higher.

It isn't always that big, but there is usually something to catch, Henderson says. "This is like California, but with consistent surf." Henderson, 34, grew up in Laguna. He began surfing young and loved the sport but hated the struggle on a crowded wave, he says. "I quit surfing in California when I was 20 because I was sick of getting in fights in the water." He attended universities in Colorado, California and Hawaii. He worked as a carpenter, surfboard maker, bartender, cook and ski instructor.

One day, he left California, headed for Latin America in his pickup. He took his time a year surfing Central and South American beaches along the way. On the snowy Andean slopes east of Santiago, the Chilean capital, he found work as a ski instructor and met his wife-to-be. In Santiago, he went looking for Chilean surfers, then a rare breed. "I found about 10," he says.

"One of them brought me here. We showed up here and it was breaking. It was so good I freaked out. And here I In those days, about eight years ago, the waves of Punta de Lobos were empty. But now, middle-class Chilean youths are suddenly discovering surfing.

They often start surfing on beaches west and northwest of Santiago, but they soon find Pichilemu. "Any Chilean who surfs, surfs here," Henderson says. Surfer magazine, published in California anil distributed internationally, has printed information on Pichilemu, including a full article about two years ago. "Now," he says, "people come from all over the country and all over the world." the word is out. Pichilemu is in.

if a of site where Pangue hydroelectric dam is Plan down jagged Andean canyons in a torrent qf blue crystal and snow-white froth. It also stands out because the fate of a unique native culture may be at stake. The Pehuenches are among Chile's poorest people, but their culture is rich in traditions rooted in the Andean lands where -they gather nuts, herd flocks of sheep and goats, and grow wheat and other grains. They belong to the Mapuche nation, which kept Spaniards and Chileans at bay along the Bio-Bio frontier until the 1880s, when an military offensive against the Mapuches opened the way to settlement south of the river. For most of this century, southern Chile developed slowly.

But a national push for export growth in recent years has brought rapid growth in the south's agricultural, fishing, fish-farming, wood and cellulose industries. Endesa, a formerly government-owned power company that was privatized in 1988, has been keeping pace with development by increasing the-, generation of electricity. And the Upper Bio-Bio River, with its huge hydroelectric power potential, is a resource that Endesa wants to exploit. Construction on the Bio-Bio's first dam, called the Pangue, began in 1993 and is WILLIAM R. LONG hoe Angeles Times Gregg Henderson emerges from Pichile-mu's waves with surfboard he made.

In recent months, he says, about 40 foreigners have come to surf, and if the water here were warmer there would be more. The Chilean coast is washed by the cold Humboldt Current, which comes from Antarctica, and wet suits are customary. Still, the water here is no colder than Northern California's, Henderson says. "Guys from Santa Cruz say the water is identical." Pichilemu fell from fashion decades ago as a beach resort. It is 150 miles southwest of Santiago by road, some of it rough and unpaved.

Most of the visitors were provin River 1 A i Pehuenche Doing Business American Rides Wave of Surf Boom scheduled to be finished in 1997. It is budgeted at $470 million and will produce 450 megawatts of electricity. Its reservoir will cover 1,200 acres, flooding nearly nine miles of the river's course, including several miles of scenic and raftable rapids. i But hydraulic engineers at Chile's University of Concepcion say the environmental impact of the Pangue dam may be greatest on the Lower Bio-Bio. Andrea Nardini and Hernan Blanco, engineers with a university environmental research center, say the dam may reduce the river's flow to a trickle in some places on summer days.

dry up a river means killing its ecosystem," Nardini said. In the upper Bio-Bio, the impact is clear. Pangue S.A., a subsidiary of Endesa that is building the dam, acknowledges that it will be "unfavorable" for some river fish, including two endangered species of native catfish. In a recently published brochure, the company also admits a "possible increase of erosion and deforestation in the basin" of the river because of increased water in upland areas around the dam. Only a few Pe-, huenches will be cials, and they did not bring much money.

But the surfers still come. An organization of local merchants called Friends of Surfing has sponsored annual contests since 1990. Washington Saldias, vice president of the Pichilemu Chamber of Tourism and a founder of the club, says more than 30 foreign surfers have participated in each contest, and many more Chileans. "It's a public attraction because of the publicity it gets on television and in the press," Saldias said. The media coverage has given millions of Chileans a glimpse of the town's quaint charms, including horse-drawn taxis called cabritas, and its many miles of gray-sand beaches, interrupted by picturesque outcroppings of brown rock.

Now, with the publicity, more tourists are coming. New motels and restaurants are opening. A four-story apartment building, Pichilemu's first "high-rise" building, is near completion. And a Chilean businessman is looking for financing to build a four-star hotel, Saldias says. "They want to make Pichilemu into a mini-California," said an article in the Sunday magazine of El Mercurio, Santiago's leading newspaper.

"And they are succeeding." The road into the town is being fully paved, and land prices are skyrocketing. Henderson says his lot is worth 10 times what he paid for it 3V years ago. It lies on three acres of piney slopes near Punta de Lobos. The house is a trilevel, California-style home with wood siding and decks. A geologist from Santa Barbara has bought a nearby lot and a cardiovascular surgeon from Santa Cruz is eyeing another one.

Both are surfers, of course. "Surfing has revitalized this town," Henderson says. "I knew it was going to boom with surfing, but I never had any idea it would be this fast. The merchants are stoked." a A secluded spot is not so secluded anymore, thanks in part to a former Laguna resident. By WILLIAM R.

LONG TIMES STAFF WRITER PICHILEMU, Chile-Gregg Henderson has found a surfer's paradise, a house five minutes from some of the best waves in South America, well -shaped beauties, rarely crowded. He has a little surfboard factory and shop that earn enough for him and his Chilean wife to live on. He helps organize an occasional surfing contest, and he rides the waves whenever he wants. What more could a boy from Laguna desire? On an overcast Saturday morning in the South American summer, Henderson is wearing shorts and a T-shirt, looking out from a rocky point at endless sets rolling toward a distant beach. Only a half-dozen surfers can be seen.

"Last summer was the first time I saw anything here that resembled a crowd," he says. "I counted and 'there were 25. In California it would be 150." But he worries about that. Maybe he shouldn't be doing so much to promote surfing in Pichilemu. Maybe he should try to keep it more to himself.

"I don't know if I'm helping to create too much of a Chilean crowd here," he says. "The sport is just booming now. It's happening." Since he opened his Seawolf Surf factory last March, he has sold about 100 of his ustom-made boards for more than $300 each. When he helps local merchants organize a contest. 5,000 people show up to 400 MILES TIERM DL FUEGO VICTOR KOTOWrrZ Loe Angeles Times One businesswoman especially stoked is Adriana Padilla, owner of the small Hotel Chile-Espana, where many foreign surfers stay.

When she began operating the hotel four years ago, Padilla says, it received 10 or 15 surfers a year. "Now there are 50 a year." She looks through the day's page in her registry and finds six Australians, three Argentines and two Brazilians. Two Frenchmen have just arrived. "Surfing has made Pichilemu known around the world," Padilla says. "When they make comparisons of the surf, many say it is like a second California." Craig Eady, an electrician from Australia, is staying at the Chile-Espana.

After a day in the water, his face is sunburned and his eyes are red. "Came here about three weeks ago," Eady says. "Just doing a little surfing trip." He says he plans to stay for two months. Two friends from Australia, also electricians, have recently flown over to join him. Just after lunch, Henderson is staring out at Punta de Lobos from a table in a restaurant.

"The waves are pretty big now. Surf's up, definitely," he says. "I should be out there." Henderson reasons that if the surf at Pichilemu becomes too crowded for him, it isn't the last surfer's paradise in Chile. "This is pretty good, hard to beat, but I've found places that are just as good," he says. "I get in my truck and I go exploring.

I get on the water and surf waves I know no human being has ever surfed before. And that's a trip.".