Patagonian grasslands ("Podiceps gallardoi"), the rare ruddy-headed goose ("Chloephaga rubidiceps") and the near threatened striated caracara ("Phalcoboenus australis"), which has suffered from over-hunting. The ecoregion has few protected areas. They include Dicky Private Wildlife Reserve ("Refugio Privado de Vida Silvestre Dicky") and Magallanes National Reserve on the mainland, and Reserva Costa Atlántica in Tierra del Fuego. The Patagonian Grasslands of Argentina Conservation Project, organized by The Nature Conservancy, is trying to develop sustainable grazing practices in partnership with scientists and landowners, but it is a challenge to find economic incentives. An Argentine company has worked with The Nature Conservancy to develop protocols
Patagonian Desert known by name are those of the Tehuelche complex. Tehuelches lived as hunter-gatherers and did not practise agriculture in lush valleys found in the desert. In the 18th and 19th centuries the northern part of the desert came under Mapuche influence during a process of Araucanization. Mapuches came to practise horse husbandry in the northern part of the Patagonian steppe. Mapuche tribes came to control trade across the desert and traded with the cities of southern Chile as well as Buenos Aires and the Cuyo Region. From the mid-19th century onwards several Argentine and European settlements, some of them sporadic,