The Tompkinses moved to Chile and focused their efforts on the preservation of national parks and established several nonprofit organizations including the Conservation Land Trust, The Foundation For Deep Ecology and Conservacion Patagonica, all of which have now consolidated under Tompkins Conservation.

[2] In 1991, Doug Tompkins began acquiring private land for conservation in Chile’s Los Lagos Region, managing it as a public-access park within the threatened Valdivian temperate rainforest.

[4][5][6] The Tompkinses' conservation efforts expanded to Argentina, starting with the Iberá Wetlands of the Corrientes province.

In January 2018, on behalf of Tompkins Conservation, Tompkins and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed decrees to create five new national parks in Chile and expand three others, adding a total of 10.3 million acres of new national parklands to Chile.

At the time, it was reported as the largest ever donation of land from a private entity to a country in South America.