Contents Introduction What Is Rewilding 6 Back to the Wild 8 Core Corridors and Keystone Species 10 Reintroducing Keystone Species Wild Again 12 A Second Chance for Trumpeter Swans A Classic Success Story 14 The Prairie Dog Underdog or Wonder Dog 16 The American Eel Hatch Me If You Can 18 Marmots and Condors Homeless 20 Zoos Keepers of Endangered Species 24 Zoo Tigers Back to the Wild 26 Core Space for Keystone Species Getting It Right 28 Wolf Country Again Yellowstone National Park 30 Namibia Conservation at Its Core 34 Europe Green at Heart 36 The Newfoundland and Labrador Cod Fishery Come and Gone and Back Again 38 Core Values A Wild Ride in the Netherlands 40 SECTION 1 SECTION 2 SECTION 3
Corridors Linking Cores Natural Connections 42 Over and Under Wildlife Corridors in Banff National Park 44 Australia Reduce Reuse Recycle and Rewild 46 Butterfly Corridors Linking Canada the United States and Mexico 48 Jaguar Ground-Truthing Corridors in Costa Rica 50 Panda Bear Bamboo or Bust 52 Rewilding the Human World 54 City Sites Every Little Space Counts 56 High Park Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire 58 High Line The Sky’s the Limit 60 Wild Boars Sharing Space in Berlin 62 Peregrine Falcons From the Brink to the Ledge 64 Wild to Rewild The Leopards of Mumbai 66 Bermuda Balance Restoring Night Herons 68 Downtown Toronto From Mine to Meadow and More 70 Danger Zones Nature’s Comeback 72 The Possible and the Impossible of Future Rewilding 74 Big Space Big Time 76 De-extinction 80 Rewilding for a Better World 82 Glossary 84 Selected Sources 86 Further Internet Research and Reading 87 Image Credits 87 Index 88 SECTION 4 SECTION 5 SECTION 6
1 What Is Rewilding Once a city known for smog London England has cleaned up its act and opened green spaces where wild deer now graze 6 REWILDING 6 REWILDING People make choices we can pollute the air and crowd our roadways or we can keep our human spaces healthy and safer for animals and people too INTRODUCTION
W e can land a probe on a speeding comet or slip a spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter but protecting the natural world here on Earth That’s a challenge Species are going extinct and habitats are being destroyed by pollution the clearing of forests and climate change Biologists and concerned citizens work hard to halt and reverse these trends In a crisis like this we need bold super-sized thinking Rewilding is a big new idea Rewilders are stepping back and completely rethinking the relationship between people and our living Earth Rewilders want to restore habitats to their natural state easing the damage done by humans They want to recreate wild environments that will support native species and make room for animals to move freely across vast spaces In this way they believe we can help our endangered species survive and thrive And in return we will keep reaping the benefits nature has to offer clean air fresh water fertile soil and valuable natural resources When important species disappear from a habitat rewilders look for ways to bring them back But that’s not simple Biologists debate what lived in a landscape when it was last truly wild How far back do we turn the clock To before the bulldozer Before the ax and shovel To ice age times Can playing with nature trigger unintended surprises Do we really want to bring dangerous creatures back to places where large numbers of people now live Some wildlife species such as badgers can survive near people even in large cities Left alone nature will eventually bring everything into a new balance you could call that nature rewilding itself But even with help from us these changes won’t happen overnight Today rewilders apply new ideas to conservation projects big and small Read on to learn about attempts to release tigers wolves and bears into the wild efforts to create a safe friendly route for butterfly migration and projects to bring wildlife back into city spaces Finally we look at where rewilding is heading in the future WHAT IS REWILDING 7
