7. Wild Futures
Lecture outline:
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Lecture 7
Re-wilding
Re-introductions of native species
Workshop: Developing a wilderness
inventory for Britain
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"Ability to see the cultural value of wilderness
boils down, in the last analysis, to a
question of intellectual humility. The shallowminded modern who has lost his
footage in the land assumes that he has already
discovered what is important...."
Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
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1. Re-wilding
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Emerging wild land policy in the UK
- background of historical, environmental, social,
political and economic drivers
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Benchmark projects
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Multiple benefits and environmental
resilience
- The Carrifran Wildwood Project
- Trees for Life
- Wild Ennerdale
- Hafod y Llan
- Wicken Fen
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Question:
What is re-wilding?
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Multiple viewpoints as to what is ‘wild’
History of attrition
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Emerging policy
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Opportunities for (re)wilding
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- from prehistory to present
- recent revival in interest in ‘wild nature’
- Scotland (SNH, NTS, JMT)
- England (English Nature, Wildlife Trusts)
- Wales (Coed Eryri, CCW)
- economic climate
- policy climate
- public interest
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Two basic approaches:
- "letting go“
• if a landscape is left unmanaged for a long
enough period, nature will take over and
produce its own entirely natural landscape
• may not necessarily be the same landscape
that existed before human settlement, but it
will be natural
- "wild by design“
• we may need to actively 'design' wild
landscapes by assisting the regeneration of
native species to recreate a more natural
looking landscape
• limited economic activity in the form of low
intensity grazing and recreation is still
possible and indeed desirable
• E.g. Council for National Parks (1998)
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)

Developing new wild lands where
opportunities arise
- Edwards Review (1991)
- CNP “Wild By Design” (1998)
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Aspects of re-wilding
- promotion of wilderness qualities
- enhancing and recreating semi-natural habitats
- promotion of ecological process in near-natural
areas
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Edwards Review (1991)
“a number of experimental schemes on a
limited scale should be set up in National
Parks where farming is withdrawn
entirely and the natural succession of
vegetation is allowed to take its course”
(Recommendation 6.3, Edwards, 1991)
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“Wild By Design”
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Semi-natural areas, which appear natural
but are in fact influenced by management
for agriculture or forestry.
Near-natural areas, where the land is
totally divorced from agricultural or
forestry use – in which natural processes
are encouraged to maintain the diversity
of habitats, and vegetation is free to vary
naturally with variations in the physical
environment. (After CNP, 1998, p.3)
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)

Promotion of the wilderness qualities
- while maintaining productive use which
may best be applied to semi-natural areas
- in accordance with the aims of the UK
Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) to conserve
and enhance biological diversity
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Enhancing and recreating semi-natural
habitats and recreating others
For example:
- reducing grazing pressure to allow vegetation to
-
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develop more naturally
enhancing and restoring natural features such as
river restoration schemes
restructuring specific landscape elements such as
conifer plantations to give a more natural outline
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Promotion of areas where ecological
processes can be paramount
- especially in near-natural areas where relatively
large areas of land can be left without
management for long periods of time
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Question:
What is the current basis
for re-wilding in Britain?
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)

Environmental resilience
- how does (re)wilding fit with this
approach/view?
- drivers for change
• social, environmental, economic
- factors influencing environmental
degradation and landscape response
• robust nature vs delicate balance
• landscape and public perceptions
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)

Environmental drivers
- climate change and ecological response
• shifting patterns of migration and range
• N-S movements and altitudinal shifts
- changing geographies of nature
- humanistic barriers to adaptability
• lack of space/continuity between wild areas
• pollution (critical loads) and environmental
stress
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Policy drivers
- CAP reform and changes in agricultural
subsidies paid to farmers
• over-production/over-grazing
• environmental stewardship
• agri-environment schemes (fitting in)
- habitat Directive
• Natura 2000
• Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs)
• Water Framework Directive
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Economic drivers
- CAP reform and the single farm payment
- agricultural ‘disasters’
• FMD
• BSE
- falling prices and the power of the big
-
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supermarkets
increasing proportion of rural economy
based on tourism and recreation
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Social drivers
- rise in outdoor recreation and leisure time
- greater mobility and disposable income
- rural migration:
• in migration of retirees and commuters
• out migration of farm workers, etc.
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Wilder Futures?
Where do we go from here?
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Possible scenarios?
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- change is inevitable… work with it
- inclusive debate and decision-making
- plan, respond and initiate
- status quo
- abandonment
- rewilding
- diversification
- urbanisation
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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Various strategic projects:
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The Wildland Network
- LUPG’s “New Wildwoods Project”
- RSPB’s “Futurescapes”
- new umbrella organisation
- objectives:
• To promote the recognition and appreciation of wild
land
• To protect and conserve the qualities of wildness
• To promote the establishment of complete
ecosystems on a large scale, through research,
advice, encouragement and education
- http://www.wildland-network.org.uk/
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1. Re-wilding (cont’d)
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The next steps?
- “Wild by Design” highlights the
challenge…“the commitment to leave minimal
intervention areas on a much larger scale (landscapes of
thousands of hectares) and over much longer periods
(hundreds of years)” (CNP, 1998)
- integrating re-wilding with farming
• “Wilderness and Plenty” Fraser Darling
- packaging and marketing
• selling idea to public and politicians
- developing a workable and realistic
strategy
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2. Re-introductions of
native species
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Nature management in UK?
- maintaining habitats and species
- remnants of former farming/forestry
systems
- management using past practice
- i.e. “nature gardening”
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Alternative systems?
- less human intervention
- role of large herbivores and predators?
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2. Re-introductions of native
species (cont’d)
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Herbivores as a management tool?
- NOT a unit of production (e.g. farm
animals)
- Vector of ecological maintenance
• “shaggy gardeners” or “woolly mowers”
• prevent tree regeneration on heaths
• Maintain short grass sward on chalk down
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Question:
What are the key issues when
considering use of large
herbivores as a tool in rewilding projects?
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2. Re-introductions of native
species (cont’d)
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What are appropriate populations?
- carrying capacity?
- relationship between animal numbers and
pattern and structure of vegetation?
- species type?
• grazers vs browsers vs foragers
• preferred fodder
• niche habitats (e.g. beaver in riparian zone)
- predation and demographics?
- The “herbivore guild”
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Question:
What is an appropriate
“herbivore guild” for Britain?
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Question:
What about carnivores?
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2. Re-introductions of native
species (cont’d)
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US Wildlands Project:
- “Cores, Corridors and Carnivores”
- large mammalian carnivores seen as
essential to wildland
• bear
• wolf
• lynx
- re-introductions in mainland Europe
• bear and lynx (France, Spain, Switzerland,
Austria, Itlay and Poland)
• wolf (Norway, Germany, Poland and wider
Alps)
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2. Re-introductions of native
species (cont’d)
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Lynx as a possible starting point
- adaptable
• variation in prey
• range of suitable habitats (mountain scrub
to dense forest)
• cold adapted
- mountains of Scotland, northern England,
Wales
• sufficient prey and habitat
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Question:
What about wolf and bear?
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Reading
Council for National Parks (1998) Wild by Design
in the National Parks of England and Wales: a guide
to the issues. CNP, London.
Edwards, R. (1991) Fit for the Future. Report of the
National Parks Review Panel. Countryside
Commission, Cheltenham, CCP 334.
Fenton, J. (1996) Wild land or wildereness – is there
a difference? ECOS 17(2), 12-18.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
(2001) Futurescapes: the large scale habitat
restoration for wildlife and people. RSPB, Sandy.
Taylor, P. (2005) Beyond Conservation. Chapters 6,
7 and 8.
Vera, F.W.M. (2000) Grazing ecology and forest
history. CABI Publishing, Waltingford.
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Workshop
Developing a wildland inventory
for Britain
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Task
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Next week...
8. Case studies 1: Wild Britain
 The Cairngorms
 Plynlimon
 The North Pennines
 Workshop: guest lecture – Toby
Aykroyd on “Wild Britain”
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