Douglas Tompkins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Doug Tompkins
Tompkins in 2009
Born	Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (1943-03-20)March 20, 1943 Conneaut, Ohio, U.S.
Died	December 8, 2015(2015-12-08) (aged 72) Coyhaique, Chile
Occupation	businessman, conservationist
Known for	North Face, Esprit, Tompkins Conservation
Spouse(s)	Susie Russell ​ ​ (m. 1964; div. 1989)​ Kristine L. McDivitt ​ (m. 1993⁠–⁠2015)​ , his widow
Children	2
Awards	New Species Award, Good Steward Award, David R. Brower Award

Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 – December 8, 2015) was an American businessman and conservationist. He loved the outdoors and was also a philanthropist, filmmaker, and farmer. Doug Tompkins started the famous outdoor company The North Face. He also helped create the clothing brand Esprit. Later in his life, he founded important environmental groups like the Foundation for Deep Ecology and Tompkins Conservation.

Starting in the mid-1960s, Doug and his first wife, Susie Tompkins Buell, built two successful companies. One was The North Face, which sells outdoor gear and clothing. The other was the Esprit clothing company. After he left the business world in 1989, Doug focused on protecting nature.

In the 1990s, Doug and his second wife, Kris McDivitt Tompkins, bought and saved over 2 million acres (810,000 ha) of wilderness in Chile and Argentina. This was more land than any other private individuals had conserved in the region. They became some of the largest private landowners focused on conservation. The Tompkinses worked to create national parks, help wildlife recover, support eco-friendly farming, and fight for environmental causes. Their main goal was to save different kinds of plants and animals, known as biodiversity.

Doug Tompkins gathered and protected land that became the largest gift of private land ever given to a South American government. Because of his amazing work, he was made a Chilean citizen after he passed away.

Early Life and Adventures

Doug Tompkins was born in Conneaut, Ohio on March 20, 1943. His mother was an antiques dealer and decorator. He lived in New York City for a few years before his family moved to Millbrook, New York. Doug went to Indian Mountain School and then Pomfret School. However, he was expelled from Pomfret School in his senior year for small rule-breaking. He never finished high school.

Between 1960 and 1962, Doug spent his time ski racing and rock climbing. He traveled to Colorado, Europe, and South America for these adventures. In 1963, he started the California Mountaineering Guide Service. Around this time, he met Susie Russell. She gave him a ride while he was hitchhiking to Lake Tahoe. They got married in 1964 in San Francisco. Doug borrowed $5,000 from a bank to start The North Face, which is now a huge global company.

The North Face, Inc.

In 1964, Doug Tompkins started The North Face, Inc. It began as a mail-order and retail company. They sold equipment for rock climbing and camping. In its early years, the company became known for its high-quality sleeping bags, backpacks, and mountaineering tents.

Doug designed tents that were very special. They were some of the first to use bendable rods threaded through outside sleeves instead of a pole in the middle. This design made the tents stronger because their dome shape allowed wind to roll over them. This tent design has been copied all over the world.

The first The North Face store opened in 1966. The famous band The Grateful Dead even played at the grand opening! Two years later, Doug sold his part of the company for $50,000. He used this money to join his wife in starting Esprit, a fashion company. Doug sold The North Face because he wanted to focus on making adventure films.

Adventure Filmmaking: Mountain of Storms

In 1968, Doug Tompkins went on a six-month road trip adventure. He traveled from California all the way to Patagonia in South America. He went with friends Yvon Chouinard, Dick Dorworth, and Chris Jones. They called themselves the "Fun Hogs."

During this trip, they made the third climb of Mount Fitz Roy in Patagonia. They created a new climbing route on the mountain. With filmmaker Lito Tejada-Flores, they made an adventure film called Mountain of Storms. This film showed their amazing experience. A 2010 film, 180 Degrees South: Conquerors of the Useless, tells the story of a modern trip that recreated their journey. It also highlights the important conservation work Doug Tompkins was doing.

Doug was also a very skilled whitewater kayaker. He was the first to kayak down many rivers in California, Africa, and South America. On top of that, he was a talented bush pilot, flying planes in remote areas.

Esprit

In 1968, Doug, his wife Susie, and her friend Jane Tise started selling girls' dresses. They designed the dresses on their kitchen table and sold them from the back of a VW bus. In 1971, their growing business became a company called "Plain Jane," which later changed its name to Esprit.

By 1978, Esprit's sales reached over $100 million a year. The company also formed partnerships in Germany and Hong Kong. Doug became the "image director" for Esprit. He managed all parts of the company's look, from how the stores were designed to how the catalogs looked. His wife, Susie, was the design director.

Esprit became one of the most popular brands of its time. It grew into a global company that operated in 60 countries. In 1989, a Japanese publisher released a book called Esprit, the Comprehensive Design Principle. This book showed all the design ideas Doug had created for the brand.

Doug became more and more worried about how the fashion industry affected the environment. Because of this, he decided to leave the business world in the late 1980s. In 1989, he sold his share of the American company to Susie. He put most of the money he earned into protecting land. Later, in 1989 and 1994, he sold his shares in other Esprit companies around the world.

Land Conservation: Tompkins Conservation

After selling his part of Esprit, Doug Tompkins turned his attention to southern Chile. He had spent a lot of time there climbing, kayaking, and skiing. He wanted to focus on protecting land and fighting for environmental causes.

In 1990, he started the Foundation for Deep Ecology. This group supports environmental activism. In 1992, he founded The Conservation Land Trust, which is now called Tompkins Conservation. This organization works to protect wild lands, mainly in Chile and Argentina.

In 1993, Doug married Kristine L. McDivitt. She used to be the chief executive of Patagonia, another outdoor company. They worked together on many conservation projects. The Tompkinses wanted to save wild landscapes and the many different kinds of plants and animals that live there. They bought large areas of wilderness. Then, they worked to create national parks, believing that government protection is the best way to keep these lands safe for a long time. Kris Tompkins continues their important work today as the president of Tompkins Conservation.

Pumalín Park

Doug Tompkins's first big conservation project was Pumalín Park in Chile. This area covers 800,000-acre (320,000 ha) of Valdivian temperate rain forest, high peaks, lakes, and rivers. In 1991, he bought the Reñihué farm, which was a mostly unused farm at the end of the Reñihué Fjord. He planned to set aside 42,000 acres (17,000 ha) of this special forest to protect it from being used for logging or other harmful activities.

Over the next ten years, The Conservation Land Trust added another 700,000 acres (280,000 ha) of land next to it. This created Pumalín Park, which eventually stretched from the Corcovado Gulf to the Andes mountains. The park covers a total area of 800,000 acres.

In 2005, the president of Chile at the time, Ricardo Lagos, declared this area a Nature Sanctuary. This special Chilean government title gives the land extra protection from development. The Conservation Land Trust (a U.S. environmental group) gave these protected lands to Fundación Pumalín (a Chilean group). This Chilean group now manages and develops the park like a national park, but it's a private effort.

Doug wanted to encourage people to experience the wilderness. So, he helped create public access to the park. This included building trails, campgrounds, visitor centers, and a restaurant. He hoped that by visiting, thousands of people would feel a deeper connection to nature and want to protect it.

In March 2018, Chilean president Michelle Bachelet announced a huge gift. The government accepted 1 million acres from Tompkins Conservation. They created five new national parks and made three others larger. This protected 11 million acres in total. It was the largest private land donation in history! At the signing ceremony, Doug's long-time friend Yvon Chouinard said, "No other human has ever created this many acres of protected wildlands."

Corcovado National Park

Just south of Pumalín, Corcovado National Park is another completed conservation project by Doug Tompkins. In 1994, The Conservation Land Trust (CLT) and U.S. philanthropist Peter Buckley bought 208,000 acres (84,000 ha) of native forest. This forest was planned to be cut down for timber. It was next to large areas of government land managed by the Chilean Armed Forces.

CLT offered to give this land back to the Chilean government. The only condition was that the entire area had to become a national park. In 2005, President Ricardo Lagos agreed to this idea. That's how the 726,000-acre (294,000 ha) Corcovado National Park was created.

Iberá National Park

The Iberá project was a private conservation effort led by Doug Tompkins. He worked with George Soros, Harvard University, and Rewilding Argentina. Their goal was to better protect and restore the natural homes and wildlife in the Iberá Wetlands in Corrientes Province, Argentina.

The Iberá Provincial Reserve was set up in 1983. It covers 1,300,000 hectares of wetlands, grasslands, forests, and ranch lands. This includes both public and private lands. The Iberá project pushed for stronger protection of the government-owned floodplains. In 2009, the provincial government created Iberá Provincial Park on 553,000 hectares of public land within the reserve.

Doug Tompkins's Conservation Land Trust bought 150,000 hectares of old cattle ranches next to the provincial park. These lands included habitats not yet protected in the park. Most of the cattle and inner fences were removed. A plan was made to bring back native plants and animal homes. In December 2015, the Trust gave these lands to the Argentine government. This included grasslands and forests. The goal was to create a strictly protected national park called Iberá National Park.

The proposed park, which would be 700,000 hectares, would be Argentina's largest national park. It would be home to hundreds of bird species, giant anteaters, and macaw parrots. It would provide a safe home for many native animals. It would also help the area change from an economy based on using up resources to one based on conservation and ecotourism. In 2018, the Argentine government officially created Iberá National Park from the donated lands. The provincial park is managed separately.

In 2007, the Conservation Land Trust started a rewilding program. This program brings back native animal species that had disappeared from the wetlands in the 20th century. Animals like Giant anteaters, collared peccarys, South American tapirs, pampas deer, and red-and-green macaws have been brought back into the wild. There is also a program to breed jaguars in captivity to help bring them back to the parks.

Other Conservation Projects

Doug Tompkins also led other important conservation projects, including:

• The Melimoyu and Isla Magdalena conservation projects in coastal Chile.
• The Yendegaia project in Chile's Tierra del Fuego.
• Patagonia Park, also known as Estancia Valle Chacabuco, in Chile.

Organic Agriculture

Doug Tompkins believed that "conservation is a result of good production." He created ways of organic farming that are good for the environment. These methods keep the soil healthy and protect nature. At the same time, they provide food for families and support the local economy.

Around Pumalín Park, farms like Hornopiren, Vodudahue, Ventisquero, Pillan, and Reñihué are examples of small-scale ecological farming. They also act as informal park ranger stations. Each farm produces different things, such as sheep, cattle, honey, berries, and organic vegetables. A small facility at the Pillan farm processes honey and berries into jams, which are sold as Pillan Organics.

In northeastern Argentina, Doug managed cattle ranches in Corrientes Province. He also ran farms in Entre Ríos Province that grew many different grains and fruits together. All these farms focused on using sustainable practices.

Environmental Activism

Through the Foundation for Deep Ecology, Doug Tompkins published several large, activist photo books about environmental issues. These books aimed to raise awareness about problems like:

• How industrial logging harms forests.
• The negative effects of industrial agriculture.
• How certain ranching practices destroy the American West.
• The problems with forest fire policies.

The Foundation for Deep Ecology also gave grants to support environmental causes. These included protecting biodiversity and wilderness, promoting ecological agriculture, and addressing issues with large-scale technology and global economics. Now, publishing books is its main focus.

Doug Tompkins was also involved in several big environmental campaigns in Chile and Argentina. One example is the "Patagonia Sin Represas" campaign. This campaign fought against building dams on two of the largest and wildest rivers in the Patagonia region of Chile.

Honors and Awards

Doug Tompkins's environmental work earned him much respect and many awards outside of South America.

• In 2012, the African Rainforest Conservancy gave him and his wife the "New Species Award."
• In 2007, the International Conservation Caucus Foundation gave them the "Good Steward" award.
• In 2008, the American Alpine Club gave him the David R. Brower Award for his work protecting mountain regions.
• In 2009, Latin Trade named him the "Environmental Leader of the Year."

In 2007, he became an honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. This was to recognize his work in restoring damaged landscapes. A 2009 book called Eco Barons by Edward Humes talks about "dreamers, schemers, and millionaires who are saving our planet." Doug Tompkins is the first example given of these new philanthropists.

In Brazil, environmentalists honored Doug Tompkins during the 30th anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Wildlife. They showed a video called “A Natureza do Brasil” with images by Haroldo Pallo Júnior and music by Brazilian pianist Salete Chiamulera.

Death

On December 8, 2015, Doug Tompkins was kayaking with five other people. One of them was Patagonia, Inc. founder Yvon Chouinard. They were on General Carrera Lake in southern Chile. Strong waves caused their kayaks to flip over. Doug spent a "considerable amount of time" in the very cold 40 °F (4 °C) water.

He was flown by helicopter to a hospital in nearby Coyhaique. Sadly, he died hours later from severe hypothermia, which means his body got too cold. He was 72 years old. He was survived by his second wife, Kristine (McDivitt), his two daughters, his brother, and his mother.

Doug Tompkins is buried in a small cemetery near the Lodge at Valle Chacabuco in Parque Patagonia.

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