Rewilding: The Radical New Science of Ecological Recovery: 14 (Hot Science)

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Wilder primarily explores large-scale, costly rewilding projects that few of us could replicate. I intentionally wrote about places like Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique – which is in the midst of a multimillion-dollar rewilding effort designed to undo the damage caused by the country’s civil war – to inspire readers. The way this book is structured is very helpful for rewilding novices, with confusing jargon demystified and competing theories explained. The authors also make sure to cover the most common case studies, so you’re not left feeling embarrassed when someone brings up the Oostvaardersplassen in casual conversation. So yes. this is my review. I loved it, and unlike me, I didn't skim read any passages. I absorbed every word. All in all, I think Rewilding gives a glimpse into many different ideas, trials and steps already taken. The last chapter does sound a bit too forcefully optimistic, but that might just be my own cynicism talking. Hopefully I'll find a copy of this in writing. I think I might retain more information by reading and just listening. The words Isabella Tree uses to describe the journey from unprofitable farm, to a haven for endangered species and reintroduced species are magical. This book is not a heavy scientific tome but it contains enough information to make you question your purchasing decisions at the supermarket, and what you consider beautiful in the natural environment.

The Book of Wilding is a handbook for how we can all help restore nature. It is ambitious, visionary and pragmatic. The book has grown out of Isabella and Charlie's mission to help rewild Britain, Europe and the rest of the world by sharing knowledge from their pioneering project at Knepp in Sussex. It is inspired by the requests they receive from people wanting to learn how to rewild everything from unprofitable farms, landed estates and rivers, to ponds, allotments, churchyards, urban parks, gardens, window boxes and public spaces.. The Book of Wilding has the answers.

But then, of course, there’s the downside. We’ve got used to living with a richer kind of nature on our doorstep and now, when we go for walks elsewhere with friends, to places we always used to enjoy, what we notice most is the silence and the stillness. When we’re driving, or watching the landscape flash by from a train, we now know what isn’t there. The only issue of contention for me was her mention of using wild Exmoor ponies for meat!!! Wtf?!!! Apparently once wild ponies breed and their numbers become undesirable, they bring little income when sold (!!), so the theory has been bandied about that they should be allowed to breed and used for meat! Erm, no! For any young people anxious about the future of our planet, this is a strong and positive reminder of all the wonderful work being done to restore the natural world.

Before I started reading it, I knew the author had a good story to tell of what her family had been doing at Knepp Castle since the early noughties. What particularly impresses though is, firstly, how extremely well written it is. By turns poetic or polemical, according to the topic in hand. And, secondly, how profoundly knowledgeable the author is. About wildlife of course - the turtle doves, the nightingales, the purple emperors and Dartmoor ponies. But so many other areas too. Whether stepping carefully through the thirty different terms for 'mud' in the old Sussex dialect, or wading waist-deep into the various academic debates in ecological circles surrounding 'vegetation succession' and the role of large grazing herbivores in pre-agrarian Europe - the author is an unfailingly articulate and clear-sighted guide.

Reviews

Deeply researched and with original illustrations by Jeroen Helmer, Europe’s foremost environmental artist, this book explains why rewilding is important and how every one of us can play a part. The Book of Wilding is a practical guide and call to action. Above all, it is a manifesto of hope. Thank you to NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book prior to its release in exchange for an honest review. If you’re wondering about how to manage the community response to a rewilding project, then the discussion of Patagonia’s rewilding experiment in S America is very informative. There is also insightful guidance into how rewilders might navigate choppy political waters, and some predictions of future industry growth. For anyone unfamiliar with rewilding science, Rebirding is a great place to start, as the author gives a great outline of the key literature. There’s obviously a focus on birds, given the title, but it’s tied in to the effects of wider restoration – there are almost no birds without insects, as he points out, and no insects without the plants and habitats they need to survive. I know nothing about farming and next to nothing about conservation, but I was fascinated by this story of a family that turned their 3,500 acres of unprofitable intensive farmland, owned by ancestors for centuries, into a 'wilderness'. The book recounts the battles against local opposition to 'destruction' of the estate's perceived attractiveness, against blinkered bureaucracy and even against thoughtless dog owners. Along the way, we learn how Charlie and Isabella resisted the psychological pressure to set targets and manage the project, instead adopting a hands-off approach that let natural processes take over. The rapidity with which the land, the diversity of animal and plant life and the composition of the soil recovered is the natural miracle that lies at the story's core.

Wilding (2018) is Isabella Tree's account of how the Knepp estate in West Sussex changed from being a farm to a more natural environment. It's wonderful. Inspiring, informative and passionate. I learnt so much about how nature, left to its own devices, can transform an estate laid bare after decades of intensive agriculture into a rich, diverse ecosystem. The IUCN's Rewilding Thematic Group says “The concept of rewilding is relatively new, and whilst it offers great potential for reinvigorating conservation, it is currently defined and approached in several different ways. This is limiting the application of rewilding for ecological conservation and functional restoration.” Maybe we don’t need to just re-wild our landscape but also ourselves, to find a more natural space in which to exist away from our plastic wrapped food and constantly fluttering screens. There are a number of ethical and practical challenges as we move down the path of rewilding and the book does well to bring these forwards and seek debate, so that buy-in can be achieved and the issues can be navigated in a thoughtful and considered way. What will stay with me most after reading this book is the soil. The solution to many of the major environmental issues of our time might literally be the ground beneath our feet. Soil that is managed by nature rather than by man has a huge capacity for storing carbon. Letting nature manage nature has the potential to solve global warming. This is a staggering thought. As the book puts it Content wise, the book is spot on. Reading it gave me some hope that we may be able to avert the crash course the mass of societal pressures and economic interests would have us follow. It was disheartening to read about the opposition that the project has faced, especially as I have read even recent comments about Alan Savoury's work that adamantly claim that such an approach cannot work. But it's also heartening to have seen the proof that it can work with my own eyes, and to know that at least some are willing to take this leap of faith. Despite other points of contention, no one visiting Knepp could say that grazing herbivores can only have a negative impact on the environments they live in, or that 'wildness' cannot exist in modern lives.We need our conventional nature reserves. They are our Noah’s arks – places where some of our most endangered species and habitats are just clinging on to existence. But what rewilding can do, I think, is provide a means for creating natural, process-led areas like webbing, or ribbons, running throughout our landscape to join these Noah’s arks, these oases, together, so that wildlife can spill out into the wider countryside. And that is how we can create resilience for wildlife populations in the face of climate change and pollution. I can already say, with absolutely no hesitation, that this will be one of my books of the year. There is no book I’ve learned more from, or been more enthralled by reading. I say this as someone who has only a mild-to-middling interest in nature/environment/ecology issues, at least in terms of prior knowledge and depth of scientific understanding. Isabella Tree is a great storyteller who manages to convert quite a lot of technical information into a plot - a drama, even - which any reasonably intelligent and diligent reader can follow. Those who are enthusiastic about saving the environment often have a mixed relationship with science. They might for example, support organic farming or oppose nuclear power, despite organics having no nutritional benefit and requiring far more land to be used to raise the same amount of crops, while nuclear is a green energy source that should be seen as an essential support to renewables. This same confusion can extend to the concept of rewilding, which is one reason that the subtitle of this book uses the word 'radical'. This book also provides interesting examples of rewilding experiments, notably ‘the big four’: Oostvaardersplassen (‘OVP’, Netherlands), Siberia’s Pleistocene Park (Russia), island rewilding (the Mauritian islands), and the wolf introduction in Yellowstone Park (USA). This provided some optimism in the final chapter, that rewilding is viable and that Europe will lead the way for potential rewilding projects across the world, especially for Asia.