Introduction and Context

• Hosts Josh Kirk and Chuck Bryant discuss rewilding concept
• Julia Laden helped with research for first time in a while
• Term "rewilding" coined in 1998 (disputed origins: 1985, 1992, 1967)
• First appeared in scientific literature in 1998

Definition and Core Concept of Rewilding

• Basic principle: returning nature back to take care of itself
• Designating huge swaths of Earth to remove human management
• Nature functioned fine without human intervention before
• Human management often causes problems even with good intentions
• Encompasses everything from simple plant growth to reintroducing carnivores
• Scientific community still figuring out exact definition and best practices

Biodiversity Crisis and Economic Impact

• Living Planet Index: 58% of world's fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals disappeared between 1970-2012
• Ecosystems function as interconnected webs
• Loss of biodiversity affects ecosystem services
• Office of Economic Development: nature produces $125-140 trillion worth of services annually
• Global GDP in 2020: only $85 trillion
• Nature's services worth nearly twice global GDP

Three C's Framework

• Cores: Large reserve areas for apex predators to thrive
• Corridors: Connections between cores (animal bridges, underpasses)
• Carnivores: Apex predators control and regulate food chains
• Example: connecting Yellowstone to Yosemite with wildlife corridor
• American National Parks as ideal core examples

Types of Rewilding

Passive Rewilding

• Two main goals: wildlife protection and territory expansion
• Remove human alterations (dams, canals, infrastructure)
• Restore landscape before walking away
• Timeline: couple hundred years for full restoration
• UK targeting 5% of England's land (1 million acres) by 2030
• 86% of UK land has few people/buildings
• 83% of UK population lives on 6% of land mass

Trophic Rewilding

• Selectively reintroducing animals that played ecosystem roles
• Focus on apex predators for ecosystem control
• Pleistocene rewilding: restore to last ice age conditions
  • Problems: many species extinct (woolly mammoths, saber-toothed cats)
  • Modern substitutes may be inadequate for large ecosystems
• Modern approach: focus on wolves-in-Yellowstone style projects

Challenges and Criticisms

• Failure rate for species introductions/reintroductions: >70%
• Bad examples often mislabeled as "rewilding":
  • South Georgia reindeer (1940s): 5,000 reindeer slaughtered
  • Argentine Canadian beavers: destroyed forests, trees don't regrow
• These were invasive species introductions, not true rewilding

Implementation Principles

Rewilding Britain's 5 Tenets:

1. Support people and nature together
2. Let nature lead (no human-defined end state)
3. Create resilient local economies
4. Work at nature's scale and pace
5. Secure benefits for long-term

Key Requirements:

• Bottom-up community involvement, not top-down mandates
• Engage local stakeholders (farmers, landowners)
• Convert farm subsidies to rewilding subsidies post-Brexit
• Nature-based economies (eco-tourism, safaris)
• Some farmers making equal/more money from eco-tourism than farming

Examples and Case Studies

• Yellowstone wolves: successful trophic cascade
• UK uplands: 70% of England's drinking water source
• George Monbiot's book "Feral" (2013) popularized rewilding in UK
• Scotland: particular resistance to top-down approaches

Human Health Connection

• 77% of humans live in urban areas
• 90% of time spent indoors
• Health impacts: depression, heart disease, anxiety, fatigue, obesity, ADHD
• Rewilding creates spaces for human-nature connection
• Balance needed between wilderness preservation and human access

Future Outlook

• Scientific consensus: need more data before large-scale implementation
• Growing popular support, especially among younger generations
• Reduced tolerance for greenwashing
• Movement gaining momentum in ecological community
• Described as "future of ecology" by some experts