Rewilding Europe is a non-profit organization based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, dedicated to creating rewilded landscapes throughout Europe. The group's efforts have contributed to increasing the stock of previously endangered species such as the European bison and the Iberian lynx.
History Rewilding Europe was formally established on June 28, 2011, as an independent, non-profit foundation (ANBI status) registered in the Netherlands. The four co-founders of Rewilding Europe are Frans Schepers,Rewilding in a European Context p.30 FRANS SCHEPERS and PAUL JEPSON www.geog.ox.ac.uk, accessed 2 July 2021 Staffan Widstrand,About www.staffanwidstrand.se, accessed 2 July 2021 Neil Birnie,Rewilding is not about keeping people out of nature, but bringing them back together- Nature and humans working in unison Nicholas Harvey 24 April 2017 www.adaptnetwork.com, accessed 2 July 2021 and Wouter Helmer.CANA Foundation has recently announced that Wouter Helmer... 2021 canafoundation.org, accessed 2 July 2021
The organization has received funding from the European Investment Bank and the Endangered Landscapes Programme.
Locations Rewilding Europe is actively engaged in ten rewilding areas located in 12 European countries.
Greater Côa Valley rewilding area The Greater Côa Valley rewilding area is located in Portugal, in the Côa Valley, along the border with Spain. Here, Rewilding Europe is trying to increase the number of semi-wild livestock, such as feral horses and cows. Due to depopulation and land abandonment, there has been a significant decrease in grazing, which has caused natural succession and more plant cover in the landscapes. The organization promotes grazing as a tool to lower the risk of fire. The organization claims more "wild" livestock will lead to more diverse "mosaic landscapes", which may improve conditions for populations of roe deer and other species, including some that are extinct in the region, such as the Iberian ibex. Besides the promotion of conservation grazing, the organization is also occupied with promoting ecotourism, advocacy to convince the Portuguese government to set aside more land to create a biological corridor, and a project to increase the number of wolves in the area.
Danube Delta rewilding area The 580,000-hectare Danube Delta is home to massive amounts of water birds, most notably pelicans of two species, herons, storks, cormorants, and terns. It is a favourite staging area for passage migrants and wintering grounds for masses of migrating water birds from the steppes, the boreal forests, and the tundras further north. The region has some of Europe's few remaining grazed mosaic forest landscapes, kept in their natural state by the wild horses and wild cattle still present. Working with partners, the Rewilding Danube Delta team is working to significantly improve the ecological integrity and natural functioning of 40,000 hectares of wetland and terrestrial delta habitat, using rewilding principles on a landscape scale. Revitalised and self-governing natural processes, particularly flooding and natural grazing, will govern landscape formation, driving other natural processes, wildlife comeback, increased biodiversity, and the development of a nature-based economy. The Danube Delta rewilding area is part of the Tauros breeding programme, managed by the Taurus Foundation and Rewilding Europe. The programme aims to breed a cattle breed that resembles the aurochs by establishing viable free-ranging populations of cattle in several European locations. Due to translocations in 2016 and 2017, the number of Tauros cattle grazing near Sfântu Gheorghe, Tulcea is now 18 animals. Rewilding Europe works to create new opportunities for delta communities by supporting the development of nature-based business. 2019 saw the release of a water buffalo herd as a proxy for Bubalus murrensis; and 2020, of a Turkmenian kulan herd (a species present in European Russia until the 18th or 19th century,Heptner, V. G., Nasimovich, A. A., Bannikov, A. G., & Hoffman, R. S. (1989). Mammals of the Soviet Union, vol. 1. Leiden, the Netherlands: EJ Brill, 1147 pages. and close relative of the Western European wild ass that became extinct in the Chalcolithic).Crees, Jennifer J.; Turvey, Samuel T. (May 2014). "Holocene extinction dynamics of Equus hydruntinus, a late-surviving European megafaunal mammal". Quaternary Science Reviews. 91: 16–29.
Southern Carpathians rewilding area The Southern Carpathians were considered a good place for nature conservation work. Rewilding Europe has concentrated on part of the region which counts more than 1 million hectares of protected areas already in place, rich wildlife, large intact forests, a high concentration of biodiversity, relatively intact wild landscapes, wild rivers, and large areas of mosaic vegetation largely shaped by traditional farming and grazing practices.
The work of Rewilding Europe and its partners is focused on bringing back the European bison. Since 2013, Rewilding EuropeRewilding Europe our-storynewstaging.rewildingeurope.com, and WWF RomaniaWWF Romania www.wwf.ro, accessed 2 July 2021 have been working together in the Southern Carpathians rewilding area to reintroduce this iconic species. The major objective of this ongoing project is to create a demographically and genetically viable population in the Southern Carpathians, comprising free-roaming sub-populations in the Țarcu Mountains and nearby Poiana Ruscă Mountains.
So far, following bison releases in 2014 and 2015, in June 2016, a third bison release took place as part of the European Commission-funded LIFE Bison project,LIFE Bison project www.rewildingeurope.com, accessed 2 July 2021 with a fourth release of nine animals taking place in April 2017. Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania have been working together to create one of the largest contiguous wild areas in Europe.
Velebit rewilding area Situated on a mountain chain on the Adriatic coast in Croatia, the Velebit rewilding area is one of the wildest areas of the whole Mediterranean. The area hosts two national parks, a biosphere reserve, several hiking trails, old-growth forests, deep canyons, ancient open lands and wildlife like Balkan chamois, red deer, brown bear, wolf, and lynx.
Many local inhabitants have moved out of the area towards the coast. As a result, many areas of this region are now characterized by land abandonment, rural exodus and fading cultural tradition. Rewilding Europe is working with its partners to transform challenges into opportunities. This has seen the establishment of the 17,000-hectare Velebit Nature Reserve, situated between two large national parks. Here rewilding is offering a fresh approach to wildlife management and underpinning the development of a local nature-based economy, creating a wildlife and ecological corridor in the Velebit mountains.Rewilding Croatia's Velebit Mountains 15 July 2018 organikos.net, accessed 2 July 2021
Wildlife-watching hides are constructed and it is planned that new ones will be built in future to create job opportunities benefiting the local community. In collaboration with the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Forestry, the Rewilding Velebit team are working to have the Ramino KoritoRamino Korito www.rewildingeurope.com, accessed 2 July 2021 old-growth beech forest, located in the southern part of Velebit Mountains, designated a special woodland reserve, highlighting its rarity and biological value. On the Lika Plains, a grassland located in the foothills of the Velebit Mountains, Rewilding Europe is working to reintroduce wild and semi-wild grazers. Since it began in 2015 the project has doubled in size and now extends across 1000 hectares.
On 10 December 2014 experienced Croatian hiker Zdenko Đanić was killed by a Sayaguesa bull which the project had imported. The shepherd was present but rescuers reached the injured hiker too late due to the remote location.
Central Apennines rewilding area The Central Apennines are characterized by a rich diversity of ecosystems and therefore also wildlife species. The work of Rewilding Europe and its partners in Central Apennines focuses on developing large "coexistence corridors" by connecting the local economy with wilder nature in four corridors collectively covering more than 40,000 hectares.
In the protected areas (the Abruzzo and Majella National Parks and Sirente-Velino Regional Park) the corridors are intended to benefit the wildlife populations and the quality of nature and nature-related experiences. The 10-year project's goal is to reduce bear mortality and conflict by installing traffic accident prevention measures, removing old fencing, restoring and improving signage, and distributing new mobile electric fences. Furthermore, Rewilding Europe and its partners work on supporting nature-based enterprises in and around corridor areas, and raising awareness about wildlife and nature conservation amongst local communities and people visiting the area.
The Rhodope Mountains rewilding area The Rhodope Mountains are the only breeding area for griffon vultures in Bulgaria and also the most important breeding site for the globally threatened Egyptian vulture on the Balkan Peninsula. The work of Rewilding Europe focuses on restoring food chains in the Rhodope Mountains. Restoring natural food chains is a flagship project of Rewilding Europe, supported by the European Commission through the LIFE project "Conservation of black and griffon vultures in the cross-border Rhodope mountains".LIFE project “Conservation of black and griffon vultures in the cross-border Rhodope mountains” www.rewildingeurope.com Rewilding Europe's main focus is to help vultures and other scavenging species by boosting the availability of wild herbivore carcasses, thereby closing the circle of life.
Together with local partners Rewilding Europe is increasing the number of local ungulates through several annual red deer and fallow deer releases, with reintroduced animal behaviour monitored through the use of GPS collars. Rewilding Europe is boosting biodiversity through mosaic landscape creation. Together with partners, Rewilding Europe is creating space for natural processes like forest regeneration, free-flowing rivers, herbivory, and carnivory to impact ecosystems. Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Rhodope extends its efforts to restore steppe habitat, and increase the population of the endangered European ground squirrel.
Oder Delta rewilding area The Oder Delta region is a unique combination of a rich mosaic of large and wild continental, marine, and freshwater ecosystems in Germany and Poland. The transboundary region stretches over more than 250,000 hectares, of which nearly 70,000 hectares are the open waters of the lagoon. Rewilding Europe, nature conservation organisations and local partners have started working on several pilot conservation and sustainable development projects here in 2013, based on the exploration of nature-based economic opportunities. A professional non-profit organization in the form of a registered association Rewilding Oder Delta e.V. has been established and registered in Germany in 2019 to facilitate this cooperation and to develop further projects for the benefit of nature and people in the region.
The eventual aim is to restore and safeguard regional nature and to develop alternative, sustainable and nature-friendly models of land, freshwater and sea use with local landowners, entrepreneurs, communities and residents. The Oder Delta team is working with partners to boost biodiversity in the delta by improving habitats and their connectivity, rewilding rivers, restoring sensitive peatlands and alluvial areas, supporting sustainable wildlife comeback, and a local nature-based economy.
Swedish Lapland rewilding area