Urban Parks Alessandri Coronel and Alessandri Nacimiento Reinforce Biobio’s Signature Green Trait
One is mere meters away from Route 160, the main highway and artery in the Province of Concepción. It connects the Penquista capital with Coronel, and the Province of Arauco. At kilometer 18 it is almost hidden from view, a treasure peeking out from between boldos, Chilean acorns, myrtles, and ornamental bushes. It is a little piece of paradise lodged squarely between the industrial sector and the coastline. The other, in southern Biobio, is in the middle of the city, between houses and commercial stores. Residents walk through or around it as they commute in the city, enjoying the benefits of the entire area’s only green lung.
What are we talking about? The above describes the Alessandri Coronel, and Alessandri Nacimiento Parks, natural enclosures imbibed with culture and recreational activities and managed by the CMPC Foundation. The first is on the eve of its 28th anniversary, and the second has only been open to the public for two weeks, and today, on World Parks Day, both emerge as the options you can turn to to disconnect, and go back to nature.
The older of the two parks is home to a thousand-year-old forest lying directly behind the park’s amphitheater. The forest boasts hundred-year-old oaks, boldos and Chilean acorns that are also soon to turn 100, all bordering on a deer enclosure. The new park on the other hand has a wide variety of trees, and other newly planted flowers and vegetation. In a question of just a few seasons these plants will adorn and provide shade and places for Nacimentans to meet.
Both parks are inserted in communities to help bolster quality of life for the local residents, engaging them and helping to incorporate these spaces into their day-to-day living, strengthening their bond with the natural heritage that surrounds them.
We are supremely happy that the people of the region recognize the Coronel Park as an educational space where they can enjoy life and the outdoors. We want this to be where they go out for the weekend, the place they recommend to their friends, and have these people bring and integrate the park into their daily lives” comments Maite Artiagoitia, Cultural Director of the CMPC Foundation. She adds “all efforts and dedication will also be reflected in the Alessandri Nacimiento Park, which we recently opened to the public in the municipality, and will function with the green hallmark trait integral to local residents over the last three decades”.
The Alessandri Coronel Park was opened in 1993, and to date has accumulated over 3 million visitors. CMPC decided to give the 11 hectares of park a special use, focused on caring for the region’s natural heritage. The previous was based on an innovative proposal that centered on education, culture and recreation. The Park currently figures as one of the most visited locations in the Region of Biobio.
Alessandri Coronel Park opens from Tuesday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, and opens on the weekends from 11am to 5pm.
Alessandri Nacimiento Park in contrast, opened for the first time on the 10th of August. In close to 5 hectares of land there are green lawns and paths for walks and family outings, where visitors traverse through Dombey beeches, Chilean acorns, boldos, pataguas or lily of the valley trees, lingues, olivillos among other native species.
The cultural amphitheater, built to seat 1,500 people, is another standout in the space, surrounded by lookouts, three artificial lagoons, in a system with waterfall effects that refills the lagoons over and over again, creating a truly breathtaking landscape and a beautiful oasis in the middle of Nacimiento. It also has two children’s playgrounds to the delight of the smallest members of the family.
In the first fifteen days of being open, the Alessandri Nacimiento Park has had close to 4 thousand visitors. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm.
