The Rewild Podcast

Whilst the vast forests of Swedish Lapland might look like a wilderness from the air, get in and amongst the trees and they're anything but. Forestry plantations dominate the map, where trees are planted in dense rows and light on the forest floor is a rare sight. The rivers didn't escape the booming timber industry either, historically engineered beyond recognition to float logs downstream to awaiting sawmills. Boulders were ripped from the riverbeds, woody debris was removed and flooring was brought in to simplify the route as much as possible.The team at Rewilding Sweden is now busy restoring these ecosystems, where the forest and rivers are treated not as separate entities, but entwined waterscapes. Swedish Lapland is one of ten inspirational rewilding landscapes, brought together by Rewilding Europe to drive forwards the large scale recovery of nature across the continent.

For the past few decades, Scotland's wildcat population has been clinging on by a claw. Through historic persecution, habitat loss and more recently, issues with hybridisation with feral and domestic cats, their numbers here have dwindled to practically nothing. Saving Wildcats is the first dedicated conservation breeding for release project for the species, and the team here are hard at work to restore this iconic mesopredator back to the wild.

The Danube Delta is a complex network of river channels, wetlands, marshes, inter-channel islands and riparian forests. No matter the season, the region hums, thrums and squawks with life. Here, restoration works are focused on reversing years of drainage by agriculture and reconnecting the natural flow of water across the landscape.Further inland, at the Tarutino Steppe, the team are also busy regenerating large swathes of semi-dry grasslands, by reintroducing an army of grazing animals, both big and small, to reignite natural processes. The work here is ambitious on any level, but to keep such focus on the restoration of nature, whilst a large-scale invasion of your country is happening, is a testament to the resolve and resilience of the people here, and also the hope that rewilding brings.

The Central Apennines are just a couple of hours from Rome, and yet this is a landscape where Italian wolves roam, Marsican brown bears awake from season-long slumbers and native crayfish gather in crystal clear pools. The team here is absolutely passionate about people and place. They intertwine the need for species conservation and restoring landscape-scale ecological functions with promoting sustainable businesses and growing an unbreakable connection between communities and their surrounding environment. The Central Apennines is one of ten inspiring Rewilding Landscapes across the continent, set up by Rewilding Europe with local teams on the ground.

The Velebit Mountains are a 145km long mountain chain in Croatia. On the face of it, these forested hillsides seem like a rich wilderness area, but beneath the canopy, humans have shaped the land and the array of animals that live here. The Rewilding Velebit team is reinvigorating trophic chains through reintroductions of herbivores and carnivores alike. They're on a journey to transform the extractive economies of forestry and hunting tourism into more regenerative ways of making a living, through eco-tourism and carbon sequestration. The Velebit Mountains is one of ten inspiring Rewilding Landscapes across the continent, set up by Rewilding Europe with local teams on the ground.

The Meuse Valley River Park is a pioneering partnership in the southern tip of the Netherlands. Here, an unlikely collaboration between miners & ecologists is working hard to rewild a river. The different stakeholders have come together to pave a new way for gravel extraction, nature restoration and flood protection to work side by side. Where a historically modified landscape recently sat, a dynamic ecosystem is now progressing. A large stretch of river is being released from its shackles and being given the space to act more freely. The Meuse Valley River Park is a member of the European Rewilding Network, a collection of groundbreaking initiatives across the continent, brought together by Rewilding Europe as part of a broader rewilding movement.

Grote Netewoud is a rewilding area in the heart of one of Europe's most densely populated countries. Here, Belgium's largest nature organisation, Natuurpunt, is restoring the natural flow of water to allow the return of alluvial forest.This special ecosystem is a tangle of willow and alder, where beavers work their magic & an eruption of dragonflies & damselflies dance above the standing water.But can rewilding still work at a smaller scale & alongside all the complications human infrastructure brings to the table?Grote Netewoud is a member of the European Rewilding Network, a collection of groundbreaking initiatives across the continent, brought together by Rewilding Europe as part of a broader rewilding movement.

Tour du Valat is a private research institute that owns and manages land on the French Camargue. These Mediterranean wetlands are rich in life thanks to a patchwork of habitats created by river, tide, wind and wave. From the iconic Greater Flamingo, to the wonderfully weird European Eel, a wealth of wildlife can be found here. But even so, these are habitats under stress, and this low-lying ecosystem is at the sharp end of a changing climate. Can rewilding safeguard this important landscape for the future? Tour du Valat is a member of the European Rewilding Network, a collection of groundbreaking initiatives across the continent, brought together by Rewilding Europe as part of a broader rewilding movement.

On the west coast of Scotland, by the shores of Loch Craignish, a community has come together to help restore their marine environment. When deciding on how to put something back, they identified two priority marine features they could do something about.This is a story about carbon capturing seagrass, water filtering oysters & the passionate people tirelessly working to restore both.Seawilding is a member of the European Rewilding Network, a collection of groundbreaking initiatives across the continent, brought together by Rewilding Europe as part of a broader rewilding movement.

The Rewild Podcast will bring monthly stories of nature recovery from Rewilding Europe’s pioneering Landscapes and European Rewilding Network.Episode 1, Affric Highlands, coming 30th January, 2023.