Rewilder Weekly #4
Welcome to the latest edition of the Rewilder Weekly!
As always, a lot has happened over the course of a whole week. All of the engagement on so many different levels makes it abundantly clear that the rewilding movement is on the right track and gaining ever more steam, thanks to you! Thanks for staying active, engaging others, sharing your stories, and for always being vocal about your rewilding passion! Alright then, let's go with this week's eight selected rewilding stories.
Let's rewild!
👉 As a reminder: If you come across stories you'd like to see featured in an upcoming edition, send them to me and I'll gladly do what I can. Or - even easier - just use the #rewilderweekly hashtag and I'll be sure to see it. Thanks for being here, for reading and commenting and sharing.
1) European bison herd growing strong in Romania
For some reason, the European bison is near and dear to me. Just looking at those magnificent animals makes my heart leap with joy - and so, naturally, I absolutely love this latest bison success story from Rewilding Europe and WWF-Romania. From being entirely absent, to the relocation of nearly 100 bison over the course of ten years - today the herd in the Southern Carpathians has almost doubled in size. Expectation is that there could be as many as 450 by 2030.
Frans Schepers writes; "With free-roaming bison now thriving, rewilding in the Southern Carpathians moved up a level in 2023, with the Rewilding Romania team taking steps to expand their efforts and impact across the landscape and beyond. The team’s broader agenda now encompasses more than simply bison-related work, although the bison remains a flagship species for rewilding efforts."
👉 Go here learn more about the latest efforts
2) On the ever-contentious subject of deer numbers in Scotland
An excellent post and article by Simon Ritchie of The Woodland Trust about the huge deer numbers in Scotland - with around one million deer, he explains, it is double that of 1990. In his article, he offers insight and ideas and doesn't shy away from addressing the emotional side that comes with culling deer. But in the absence of natural predators (may the lynx soon return, David Hetherington!) deer management, for the sake of nature restoration, also means deer culling. Ritchie highlights that culling also means opportunities – for jobs, skills development, and a whole supply chain around venison.
Simon Ritchie says, "Scotland must welcome responsible land management, and its practitioners – gamekeepers, stalkers, farmers, estate managers, government officials and communities – and use both the carrot and the stick to drive further progress in deer management."
3) Idaho project details successful co-existence with the wolf
This study, highlighted by The International Wildlife Coexistence Network, is quite something. The "Wood River Wolf Project" in Idaho has been running for seventeen years and has shown that non-lethal strategies for wolf-sheep conflict make a huge difference. The project has been running for 16 years and a 7-year-long study shows that non-lethal deterrents and animal husbandry techniques work. Over the 7-year period, sheep losses in non-protected areas that didn't use the measures were 3.5 times higher.
In their words, "The Wood River Wolf Project area in Idaho is among the toughest places to protect tens of thousands of sheep from wolves and other predators. If we can do it here, and we have quite successfully for 16 years, it can be done anywhere."
👉 Go here for post and article/study
4) Bears are back in Northern Italy - and so are bear concerns
An insightful National Geographic article about the return of the bear in Northern Italy. It addresses the well-known challenges for rural communities confronted with something that had long disappeared from their neck of the woods. People are no longer prepared, no longer mindful, no longer respectful of nature - and yes, the presence of the bear requires adjustments.
In the article, Rewilding Europe's Fabien Quétier highlights something that's often left out of predator conversations. "Many more people are harmed in the Alps each year by cattle than they are by carnivores." Another region, the Central Apennines, has shown that a rural community can transform and economically benefit from a more biodiversity-rich environment - and the ecotourism it brings. Here's more about that from the Rewilding Apennines gang.
👉 Go here for post and National Geographic article
5) Extensive study of beavers reveals environmental impact
The article begins with: "A new study suggests the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland could boost biodiversity." I would think that, by now, we've gone beyond "suggest," haven't we? The researchers at NatureScot and The James Hutton Institute studied 800 trees and delivered enlightening results. Particularly also about the relationship between beaver activity and deer.
University of Stirling's Professor Nigel Willby, co-author of the study explains that, “If more deer are attracted into riparian woodlands by the offer of a rich, accessible food source that beavers stimulate through their felling behavior, it could suppress tree growth. This might simplify woodland structure, and future woodland regeneration efforts could be hindered.” As the second story in this edition of Rewilder Weekly highlights, as long as natural predators are missing, deer culling remains key.
👉 Go here for post and article
6) US trophy hunters kill nearly 300 leopards every year
The post by the Center for Biological Diversity led to a bit of a personal rant. Calm and centered as I most often am, sometimes something grabs me and off I go. In this case, trophy hunting. I know the arguments pro and con trophy hunting. I get the rationale, I really do. What I don't get is the rationale by all those big game hunters who proclaim themselves conservationists, because the money from their kill allows places to protect against poachers and some such. If conservation is so important to you, give that money with no strings attached.
Why you have to look through that scope at that magnificent creature and then proceed to murder it, my heart and mind will never understand.
👉 Go here for the Center's insights ... and my rant
7) Supporting Rewilding - with shoes and much more!
There's a lot we can all do - financial support measures are essential for many organizations. I've highlighted a few ways, such as: the SCOTLAND: The Big Picture options of ceding a bit of one's will to the cause; or the many offerings of Rewilding Europe supporting the mission, your rewilders, or specific species; WWF-Belgium's Mother's Day idea with wild flower seed bombs; and then also the very cool and special shoes I wear: the Perto shoes - a Rewilding Portugal and Wildling Shoes collaboration - that support the co-existence of sheep farmers and wolves.
Just as Sharon Lashley DipRSA Env, DipDEA from Climate Action North has done, go ahead and add more in the comments. The more the merrier and then I'll eventually curate it all into an article.
👉Go here for post and related articles
8) Reforesting the Scottish Highlands
If you can take the time, I highly recommend a balanced 32min documentary by ARTE TV about rewilding efforts in Scotland, focused here on lands owned by Danish billionaire Anders Povlsen. The doc follows the teams on his lands and shows how they reforest at quite a scale on one hand, and how they engage in deer culling on the other (ensuring that seedlings have a chance to grow).
I was particularly taken with two interviewed hunters - both are still in the business of killing deer - but one does it so that nature can improve, while the other maintains his traditional job, working for estates that are in the business of offering deer hunting for good money.
And that's it for this edition. Of course there's a great deal more happening in and around the fascinating world of rewilding and this newsletter only offers a weekly glimpse. Fore more insights and stories, use the #rewilding hashtag and follow people, organizations and groups focused on and passionate about rewilding.
Have a good week and thanks for subscribing and reading and liking and commenting and sharing and caring and reposting and all that jazz!
Cheers,
D