Posted on 09/03/2020 10:30:40 AM PDT by SJackson
Rewilding is not about restoring the past, but about proactively seeking solutions for a world in environmental crisis.
There is something deeply heartening about an extinct native species being reintroduced to its former habitat. In the United Kingdom, there are several of those stories.
The last time storks were recorded breeding in the UK was way back in 1416 on top of a cathedral in Edinburgh. This year, nests on the Knepp Estate in West Sussex produced the first wild-born chicks in 600 years. The parent birds were bred in captivity and released into the wild as part of a reintroduction project started in South East England.
Another project that began 30 years ago in the Chiltern Hills in southern England is also reaping conservation rewards. In 1990, 13 red kites were flown in from Spain as part of a plan to reintroduce the species to the area after its population had all but disappeared across the UK. Today, nearly 2,000 breeding pairs - almost 10 percent of the entire global population - soar above virtually every English county.
And in Kent, there will soon be a more distant beastly association with the British Isles' wildlife past. Wild bison are set to return for the first time in 6,000 years with the release of a small number planned for 2022. The first of the endangered animals will be brought in from Poland or the Netherlands.
The benefits of beavers It has been 400 years since beavers lived naturally in the wild in England. Now a group that was discovered in Devon in 2013 has been granted permission to stay after a five-year reintroduction trial showed their dam-building activities were good for wildlife.
It was found that other creatures, including fish, insects, birds and water voles had benefitted from the beavers' presence and that their dams had reduced the risk of flooding to some human homes.
"This is the most groundbreaking government decision for England's wildlife for a generation," Peter Burgess, director of conservation at Wildlife Trust, told Reuters news agency.
"Beavers are nature's engineers and have the unrivalled ability to breathe new life into our rivers and wetlands."
There are issues of conflict, especially with farmers concerned about flooding caused by beavers. So efforts are under way to craft an acceptable management approach for an ancient species returning to a very different landscape from the one it used to live in.
The same goes for the possible reintroduction of lynx and wolves. The strategy of returning apex predators clearly has to be very carefully assessed.
Doubling woodlands To tackle ongoing climate and environmental catastrophes, there are calls for similar ambitious initiatives to help beef up woodland cover in England. And to do it not by planting trees, but by allowing natural regeneration.
Britain is one of Europe's least-wooded countries, and environmental charity Rewilding Britain wants woodland cover to double in a decade, which would help absorb 10 percent of UK emissions.
"Our ancient woodlands are only absent because we've destroyed them and continue to work hard to prevent their return through over-cutting, over-mowing and over-grazing," said Rebecca Wrigley, Rewilding Britain's chief executive.
"If we let them, millions of trees would plant themselves across most of Britain."
Wrigley cites Norway as an example, where flourishing broadleaved forests in the coastal south - once as deforested and as bare as much of Britain today - demonstrate the potential of natural regeneration.
From bison to birch woods, rewilding as a concept is not about restoring times past, but proactively seeking a solution for a world mired in environmental crisis.
I suppose a beaver pond is nice if you want a beaver pond. Not so nice if you already have a pond or waterway, or like your trees. Best of luck with the wolves, they'll love your cows.
I want to see wooly mammoths returned, before I die
Great - instead of people poaching the King’s deer, we’ll have to hear news items about people harassing the Queen’s beaver.
I guess tigers are right out.
If its done during the reign of Charles no one will care !
If its done during the reign of Charles no one will care !
What could possibly go wrong?
Rural landowners will be overjoyed.
We have more beaver than we really want.
Imagine one day you are admiring a beautiful, perfectly healthy large tree on your property, and the next day it’s laying down from a beaver chew.
Imagine you have a great meadow for your cows to graze, or simply a nice lawn, and it soon floods due to a dam.
Imagine beavers build a dam, and everyone is just happy as clams about it, until that dam breaks and floods the lower lands.
Imagine the same protected beaver plugging culverts that cause roads to erode out from water running over them instead of through the culverts.
And worst yet, imagine the lefties making these pests an endangered species so you can’t do a thing about it.
For those of you still in free states, body traps work best.
While deer hunting on Admiralty Island in SE Alaska, I came across a massive beaver dam - it was easily 100 feet across and loaded with literally tons of small logs and sticks. The lake behind it was at least 5 acres with a few sockeye salmon in spawning mode, finning and laying eggs. It was a beautiful thing to see.
How about recreating Mt. Vesuvius, asteroids from outer space, the breaking away of the continent of Australia, and the ice-age glaciers covering North America to southern Indiana? I don;t want Jurassic Park though.
Ha ha! Maybe this is one of the reasons the birth rate in England is so low: not enough storks!
I’d suggest they skip wolves and wild boars.
But tastes vary.
So why were bison mentioned?
They’re not native to the UK.
The North American Lion vanished about 10,000 years ago, can we bring it back too?
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