Rewilding: An Introduction

You may not have heard the term 'Rewilding' but it is a growing practise in the environmental sector that seeks to improve the state of nature through various methods one of which is the reintroduction of species such as large carnivores. With the Lynx UK Trust applying for a licence this year and a decision in Scotland on the fate of the beaver trial underway rewilding is certainly something that's under the current spotlight.

So what is it?

Rewilding is about large scale conservation. It looks to restore and protect natural processes and core areas of wilderness. It does this by connecting up areas of fragmented habitat and through the reintroduction of species with a focus on keystone species. These are important as they have a disproportionate impact on the species around them and play key roles in ecosystems; hence the name.

Apex predators are typically keystone species as they exert important top-down influences on food webs and their removal sends waves of effects throughout - something known as a trophic cascade. This is why the reintroduction of large carnivores is so important to restore areas of wilderness.

Reintroductions sometimes use proxy species - these are non-native species that are considered where the wild species has become extinct, such as the use of Konik ponies to replace the wild taipan. More controversially its been suggested to use elephants in Brazil to improve the plant productivity as the Americas have lost much of their past mega fauna such as the giant sloth. But there is a risk when using non-natives of unwanted interactions between species which can cause more harm than good.

Why large carnivores are important
The absence and subsequent reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in the USA is a great example of the importance of large predators. The loss of wolves saw deer numbers multiply leading to overbrowsing and overgrazing of the vegetation. This meant that the forests, despite looking healthy, were in fact slowly dying as their seedlings were eaten and the trees were unable to replace themselves. It had other effects too - there was less carrion for invertebrates and other scavengers, coyote populations grew and their prey populations shrank.

The comeback of the wolf to Yellowstone saw significant changes to the area as the following Youtube video illustrates:

Rewilding in the UK?
The loss of large predators in the UK by the 18th century has had implications for our countryside including the overpopulation of deer, particularly in the Highlands of Scotland where the habitat has been degraded as a result. This impacts on other species as well as costing forestry and agricultural sectors. There is a now a large focus on the Uplands for reintroductions and rewilding because of these impacts. The Uplands are also areas of lighter human population densities and farmland is these areas are often not productive enough to make a profit and are subsidised.

Many rewilding projects have taken place in mainland Europe, including reintroductions, but as the UK is an island it has to be an active choice to bring animals in to reintroduce. Suitable individuals need to be taken from healthy wild populations where they have the experiences necessary to be able to survive which captive animals lack. There are also many licences and regulations which further complicate matters. Rewilding should not be just seen that something that’s good for wildlife it brings many other benefits particularly if we look at issues such as flooding. 

Having a loose concept of what rewilding was I decided to attend a workshop on rewilding held by A Focus on Nature (AFON) at WildWood animal park in Kent to learn a bit more about it. We looked at the work TreesForLife are doing in the HighLands of Scotland, the Great Fen Project in East Anglia, beaver reintroduction, attitudes to lynx reintroduction and a great deal more. So much in fact that I couldn't fit it all in one post. 

So.. more to come perhaps?