I never knew the horizon could be so vast, the sky so open, until I started doing research and conservation work in the Patagonian steppe over thirty years ago. In this expansive region of temperate grasses and remote mountains in Argentina, you can see almost as far into the distance as on the open ocean.

That open expanse reveals vast herds of guanacos that have been trooping across the grasslands since ancient times. Today on International Guanaco Day, we highlight the importance of protecting these nimble and wooly herbivores. The emblematic South American camelid is the most visible piece of a healthy and complete ecosystem that also includes condors, Andean cats, the rabbit-like mountain viscacha, pumas, and others. To protect guanacos is to protect the entire ecosystem.

Guanacos are essential to ecosystems from southern Argentina and Chile all the way to Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru. In the absence of guanacos, predators and scavengers like pumas and condors feed on livestock instead, causing conflicts with ranchers and herders. Additionally, grasslands that depend on seasonal guanaco movements can become over-grazed, leading to loss of plant cover and palatable grasses and shrubs and increased vulnerability to droughts, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change.

In the decades since I’ve been working to study and protect guanacos in Patagonia, I’ve watched this population experience a remarkable recovery, from around 500,000 individuals in the 1980s to over 2 million today. This is still far from the estimated individuals present in this region in the 1800s, and the population is still in crisis outside of Patagonia.

Seeing large herds of guanacos roaming freely in the wild steppe makes me feel like I’m seeing Patagonia the way it was before the arrival of livestock and colonizers of European descent. With abundant numbers of this keystone herbivore following natural movement patterns, the ecosystem is complete.

Nowhere can you see this more clearly than in Payunia, a landscape in northern Patagonia with very little human activity. Its nearly 500 volcanoes set it apart from the rest of the Patagonia steppe, as do its lack of fences. In this landscape, I often have the privilege of knowing I’m the only human observer—perhaps the first human these particular guanacos have seen. As that observer, I also feel the responsibility of protecting them, which is what drew me to conservation.

To migrate seasonally, guanacos require extensive tracts of undeveloped, uninterrupted land. Currently, this can only occur in a handful of locations such as Payunia, where their largest migration takes place. Most of the other remaining guanaco populations are fragmented and relegated to inhospitable places crossed by fences and other barriers that block their movements.

On International Guanaco Day we pause to recall that this species coexisted with humans for thousands of years before the arrival of livestock and colonial forces. The Tehuelche people used guanacos for meat, clothing, and building materials, hunting them at sustainable rates. But with the loss of guanaco habitat to sheep and other livestock farming, as well as unsustainable hunting practices to feed the European market with hides, the guanaco population was decimated.

To help the guanaco population to continue recovering, we must safeguard large swaths of the breathtaking Patagonian steppe as protected areas that can support their migrations every winter and summer to feed and reproduce.

Over the last ten years, with the help of donors, my team at the Wildlife Conservation Society has been able to assist the local government in consolidating a large portion of the Payunia reserve by purchasing lands that were previously used for livestock husbandry. Over 80 thousand hectares were donated to the public domain within the main summering and wintering areas of guanacos, the first ever land conservation effort focused on protecting a guanaco migration.

To keep protected guanaco populations connected, we must also ensure that this key species can coexist with humans and livestock husbandry outside protected areas, on the vast developed lands across the steppe. Today, there is an opportunity to revive the tradition of guanaco fiber usage for clothing, which can be developed through sustainable live-shearing.

Establishing a value chain to process and commercialize this valuable fiber would incentivize producers to want guanacos to live on their lands. Livestock producers are learning to make sustainable use of their pastures and coexist with migratory guanacos as well as predators and scavengers who depend on that migration.

We have advanced so much on guanaco conservation by protecting key habitats and promoting co-existence. That’s why International Guanaco Day is so vital. It not only celebrates these resilient wild animals who have such an important impact on their habitats, but it also raises awareness about the challenges facing them and the opportunities we have to protect them.

We must learn to live alongside and even benefit from guanacos, while ensuring they have the space they need to roam freely under the endless skies.