| Bosque de Fray Jorge National Park | |
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IUCN Category II (National Park)
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Outlookover the national park |
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| Location | Coquimbo Region, Chile |
| Nearest city | Ovalle |
| Area | 100 km² |
| Established | 1941 |
| Visitors | 13,205 (in 2004 [1]) |
| Governing body | Corporación Nacional Forestal |
Bosque de Fray Jorge national park or Bosque Fray Jorge national park (Spanish Parque Nacional Bosque Fray Jorge) lies in the Limarí Province, Coquimbo Region, Chile. It is a UNESCO Biosphere reserve.
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The national park lies approximately 100 km south of La Serena on the Pacific Ocean, as well as approximately 30 km to the west of Ovalle. It lies close to the Atacama Desert, in the Cordillera de Talinay, which is part of the Chilean Coastal Range. On the south, the park is bordered by the Limarí River.
The park covers an area of 100 km², but the forests cover only 4% of its surface.[1] The national park is known for having the northernmost Valdivian temperate rain forests. The coastal fog (Spanish: Camanchaca) hangs on the mountain-slopes and moistens subtropical vegetation, allowing the hydrophilic forests to survive despite of being surrounded of semiarid scrublands, with average annual rainfall of approximately 113 mm. [1] The forest is a vestigial survival of the last glacial period.
Typical plants of the national park include:
The park also includes a large number of smaller animals, as Degu, Chinchilla and foxes. Many different kinds of birds live in the park, such as the Chilean Tinamou (Nothoprocta perdicaria) and the Long-tailed Meadowlark (Sturnella loyca).
The Bosque de Fray Jorge national park was created in 1941 and is administered by the Chilean forest authority CONAF. UNESCO incorporated the national park as a biosphere reservation in 1977.