The story of Knepp: A rewilding success | Ep. 1 | Natural History Museum
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
- The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, but the Knepp Estate in southern England is trying to change that. Over the past 20 years they have set about rewilding the estate, turning it from a degraded farm to a thriving wildlife habitat.
Find out how they are doing this, and why it is helping in the fight against the biodiversity crisis.
Watch all episodes here:
Ep. 1 The story of Knepp: A rewilding success • The story of Knepp: A ...
Ep. 2 Collecting in the field: A curator's story • Collecting in the fiel...
Ep. 3 Beavers at Knepp: A winning ecosystem • Beavers at Knepp: A wi...
Ep. 4 From field to collection - A specimen's story • From field to collecti...
Ep. 5 The view from the air Knepp Rewilding Project • The view from the air:...
Ep. 6 The sound of biodiversity: Nature soundscapes at Knepp • The sound of biodivers...
00:00 Intro
1:50 What is the Knepp rewilding project?
3:03 Is rewilding successful at Knepp?
4:18 Reintroducing white storks and beavers to the UK countryside
5:36 Why is rewilding important?
7:02 What is the future of rewilding?
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The footage of the vehicle starting at 7:01 was filmed just over 6 years ago. My, then girlfriend, and I were there, we're sitting on the right at the back of the vehicle. She'd won tickets to see the project and it was one of the first trips we did together. I'm happy to say that we got married 2 years ago. She's the photographer with the blonde-ish hair that appears a few seconds later and is possibly the only British naturalist who has never been to the natural history museum... yet. I didn't expect us to pop up on the museums social media but a nice surprise nonetheless. Knepp is beautiful and the venison sausages are very nice.
well done bro
Love it!
I just love when little stories like this turn up in the comments! That´s what the www is for beaver-dam-it!
This IS how it should be indeed. All projects of rewilding in Europe are amazing! Good luck to Knepp
And not just Europe! Rewilding projects are happening all over the world, from the large-scale to the individual. Here in the U.S. I frequently see wildlife or rain gardens which are already having a big difference for local wildlife.
@@MaxWeinhold We are talking about Europe because we live in Europe!
Keep your American centric views to yourself!
U.S.Americans can't have a conversation about another country without injecting themselves into that conversation.
@@drrd4127😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 gom
@drrd4127 have some water. Take breaks. Rest.
What I still find shocking is the impact of removing exotic plants and replacing them with native ones in our yard. We also installed bee hotels and other ways for insects to hibernate. For reference, we have a tiny yard 33 square meter that's fully tiled (though does not have anti rooting fabric under the tiles, which allows for movement of all manner of soil animals from pot to pot and for plants to root where we don't walk. In our case, Campanula has taken over every nook and cranny) in a rowhouse in the Netherlands. Granted, there are hanging pots everywhere and every spot that can be covered with plants is, but it's still tiny.
In 2 years time, we now have 5 times the bees we had and at least 12 species as well as up to 8 species of bumblebees. We have had more butterflies than we've had in years, at least 7 or 8 spider hatchings (read hundreds of baby spiders) and dozens of ladybugs.
Even small changes can have massive effects. Please consider investing in a native flower yard.
Wonderful idea! These large-scale projects help immensely, but so do the little changes we make to our own backyards; even a tiny backyard can be home to dozens of plants and animals.
Do you think you can make a video to show us what you've done?
@@iwanabana We've done nothing that special, to be honest. We just have loads of planted pots everywhere and water it with a drip system so nothing every dries out or drowns. We just added some piled wood for things to winter in and some bee and insect hotels so carpenter bees, butterflies and ladybugs have a place to stay (during winter). The change came in when we planted the natives and installed those hotels. Nature did the rest.
The Fallow Deer are Invasive Extotics too
@@mysoneffa2417 I'm not sure what that has to do with my garden?
It absolutely delights my heart, that people are beginning to restore our natural landscapes, and recreate their wildness! The recovery of Knepp is beautiful, the sights and sounds deeply healing. This is what we are supposed to do, and what we are supposed to be about - thank you!
How could this be started on the USA? I just moved to Missouri and I am dismayed by so much building as well as no replanting of trees or conservation expectations when developing. It's depressing me.
Good question! I'd recommend looking at American Prairie. That's as far as I know, the largest North American restoration program.
@@tomgray3259 thanks for the information!
Yes there are in fact quite a few current large ecosystem scale rewilding projects underway within the states you've got the American Prairie Reserve in Montana, the Southern Plains land trust in southern Colorado, the Yellowstone to Yukon corridor, the Florida wildlife corridor, the Adirondacks to Algonquin corridor, the Heartland rewilding campaign, borderlands restoration and I could go on and on but you have a large selection to look in to.
City & State forestry depts. Contact & see what replacement schemes/laws are in place. Wetlands are protected at the federal level & are mandated to be replaced I believe.
Good luck, seeing as Missouri is controlled by the aggressively anti-conservation Republican Party. Just a few days ago, they flipped out about the XBox having a power saving mode. They will stop at nothing until the last bit of wild land is destroyed.
Just started reading Isabella's book, 'Wilding', it's all about the Knepp project. I'm finding the details she reveals about the history of land use over hundreds of years absolutely fascinating. Recommended read.
Congratulations!
"Rewilding" is a highly noble cause!
We need to reduce the population of humans around the world and re-establish natural eco systems.
Little by little - the more land and water, the better.
It's incredibly important!
And probably the best way to address our manifold crises!
That is the question a lot of people in conservation don't want to approach, Britain's growing population and the politicians promises to build millions of new properties.
The incredible way wolves affected Yellowstone makes me wonder how this can continue to work with no natural predator.
articificial culling and then selling the meat locally as high value meat is what is happening right now. The reintroduction of the lynx and then other predators has been discussed, with it more likely to be in the Highlands or perhaps Northern England.
@@stonedape2406 Thanks for the information.
Birds are such amazing therapists
Reintroduction of Ursus would be great. In Poland, they are cutting down old growth trees threatening one of the last bear habitats in Europe.
Ayy, I’ve actually been to Knepp. It’s absolutely incredible to see in real life and so comforting to see that we Han achieve rewiliding on a fairly short order of time. Camping there is so lovely and their open air shower stalls among the trees are magical. Oh, and those venison burgers were the best burgers I’ve ever had.
I wish Knepp all the best in their truly inspirational project.
I went in May 22 and loved it. Just hearing the storks beak clattering in greeting mates, and seeing them wheel high overhead was super in itself. It is a lot of walking though, as there are about 4 walks of about 4-10 miles each, so consider the bus tour.
Such a good feel good story. I’m hopeful that more of this type of work gain momentum across governments, towns, cities and nations. Thanks for sharing…
Glad you enjoyed it!
Will need to visit Knepp one day. I’ve read Wilding, very inspirational story and one more that British farmers should learn lessons from.
Yea, less grains more meat...
What a wonderful Project. We need so many more. It’s very difficult in Germany.
Love Knepp. Has been my favourite nature escape for about 5 years now, although it’s a bit too wet without a dry suit in December. ;D Keep it up lovely people! Looking forward to seeing the NHM wildlife garden’s evolution.
What an amazing project fills my heart with joy ❤️
Knepp is a true vision and how it should be done hopefully others will follow suit ❤ respect to all that work so hard to do what’s right for our countryside ❤
Live two miles away - we walk there often and it’s pretty cool , especially the storks ! Got to mention that they are concerned about “ corridors “ as there are plans to build houses at Buck Barn and to develop around our village which is to the south . It’s a constant battle with the planners but then everyone wants to live here - could it be because of places like this . Maybe this is a model for other places - quality of life etc .
How lovely !!! This really look like a very successful rewilding project !!!
I love rewilding! Its the only thing that gives me hope for the future. Nature will return if we help it
We differently need this across America.
Wonderful work. Thank you for inspiring us🙏
Just beautiful. We need a special bbc program to show more people about knepp.
BBC lies.
Knepp has featured a lot in Springwatch etc. But I agree it could be one of a number of case examples for a rewilding programme.
Ahh I love hearing about Knepp, really wanting to visit sometime soon
Really amazing. You can see how healthy the habitats are with all those game trails!
Just amazing!! Thank you
Live really close to Knepp in Horsham and love taking the children here, also ordered our first lot of meat from them which was delicious and will be ordering again soon, great to see this.
Very interesting
Very important project. Whilst it is good to hear the ecological and scientific benefits it would be great to hear the effects on neighbouring land and downstream. Has this helped mitigate flood risk? Does the rewilding benefit crop yields to neighbouring farms? etc. The ecological activists and scientists are already for projects like this, but we need to convince Joe Public and the business community to its wider benefits.
Just asked a similar question. "Playing devils advocate. What of the loss of the farmland in terms food production? How is that factored into the bigger picture. Someone below mentions the meat from the animals, but is the output of food production equivalent to the previous farm? Or is it a case, that we gradually re-wild and improve UK biodiversity and force somewhere else to adopt a far more efficient food production process to enable us to continue eating at the expense of someone else's biodiversity"?
@@someblokecalleddave1yea that’s the problem! We all need to eat!!
Amazing!
Wow, well done!
Great work and excellent coverage, rewilding is the future.
Thanks for watching :)
Fantastic!
Build it they will come.
I'm so happy that beavers are included. I remember a few years ago they were highly controversial. I signed an online petition to allow them for the UK and joined an online group to encourage it. I know online stuff can be pretty weak compared to IRL or financial contributions, but it was something for people like me a disabled low income person to "join in" on. With all of the large herbivores I wonder when there will be too many and land will once again become degraded or disease will spread. So how will that be handled? I know that large carnivores are a no-no if you want public enthusiasm [for the moment]. What about wild-cats like is seen in Scottish highlands? Could they come to this area too or are local domestic cats too much of a risk fir interbreeding?
They will certainly mix with domestic cats. There are barely any pure Scottish wildcats left at all - they're nearly all mixed with domestic cats
Look up how feral cats have rapidly evolved in Australia.
Perfect killing machines.
MARVELOUSE , MUCH LOVE.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
really inspiring sharing this thank you !
You're so welcome!
For more hope look up the Loess Plateau and permaculture. All over the world rewilding and huge permaculture projects are making stunning achievements.
Beautiful!
Amazing.
Knepp has been an amazing alternative (extensive ecosystem) rewilding project. Most landowners could not afford to do it in the current system of farm support. Perhaps this will change / is changing.
I found myself wondering what the long-term impact of all those herbivores will be - their numbers havent increased significantly yet, but there are no apex predators (lynx, wildcat, wolf), so how will numbers be controlled, and what impact will it have on regeneration of herbs and trees as grazing animal numbers increase unchecked?
They are currently culled and sold as meat to prevent their populations getting too high
This should be replicated across the UK.
Rewilding and restoring our nature will have so many benefits - better air quality, more biodiversity, better mental and physical health for us, and it helps confront climate breakdown.
I can't see why we don't do it?
Really cool
This is amazing
Great story at Knepp. Their book Wilding is really inspiring. Surprised you called this series re-wilding, considering Knepp say themselves that they don't conform to traditional rewilding
Just wanted to say the the book wilding was the final thing that made me study biology.
In the UK in particular, the government literally pays land owners to keep their land in what they call, an agriculturally-ready state. Meaning, they are paying them to burn their land to the ground every year. And the more land someone has in that state, the more they get paid by the government. Just in case another war comes and they need to grow a bunch of food quickly. And they wonder why their biodiversity is so poor.
We're not much better in the US. Hubris is our problem. We believe we can outsmart nature. And politicians have made damn sure that any talk of rewilding, or regreening, are political and thus not prone to arguments being fact-based.
But even on the left (which is how I lean... strongly), they don't make climate change about nature. Or about rewilding the land. They just talk about others having to give up their gas powered cars because burning fossil fuels is evil. Well, sorry to say, but that's not helpful. You want less CO2 in the air? More plants and trees is how we get there. Fighting back on desertification. Not by telling others their cars are evil.
You could gain more food from agroforestry and animals in that land than typical agriculture... so it's simply an outdated and bad system on its way out. Not even going to mention the US... US has no brain when it comes to common sense. One could say people in the US are the just vehicles for transferring money to the lobbying party xD...sad but true. From how your cities/towns are built, culture of megacities full of parking lots and urban deserts...i didn't understand until recently that if you live in the typical suburb in the USA that without a car you can't even buy stuff since the closest shop is few km away....no wonder it's a divided culture on so many fronts. People don't live together.
Nobody gets paid to burn their land. Please, be factual and not emotive.
I Wish this was happening more in Australia. In 200 years this beautiful country is so degraded in most parts and the big mining companies, huge farming corporations and the timber industries are happily ignoring government environmental policies to keep their shareholders quiet. Frankly criminal.
Really hope this type of project takes off in Australia.
Since 1788 we have lost 95% of our Drop Bears.
As a vegetarian I would love it if they would produce their own honey. Bees are great for the environment and it would allow non-meat eaters to help support Knepp.
Great stuff!
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you for giving me more hope for the futur
Rewilding is a beautiful way to experience hope. If you're able, rewilding projects from home can let you see a little of this hope in your everyday. If you've got a backyard wildlife or rain gardens are amazing for nature, and even if you only have a window you can hang flower pots for butterflies and bees to stop by. My small rewilded backyard has already seen much of these amazing changes seen in the Knepp!
@@MaxWeinhold My husband and I’ve travelling for the last 13 years, doing pet sitting for pets, farm animals and wildlife rescue center ;) We are now saving money to buy a property in Australia and do rewilding there ;) Can’t wait
@@foreveranimallover1504 That's wonderful! Best of luck on your future plans!
I applaud the efforts to bring back beavers,storks and cranes, but we need to also address the issue of non native species here, such as deer and grey squirrel, they look nice but are doing so much damage.
Next step would be to add some small predators to this system. Lynx would be great!
It would never happen but a small population of wolves would be incredible here.
Too small for wolves and lynxes.
Start with Scotland or drastically increase the size of the project.
But maybe
scottish wild cat, pine marten, otter, osprey eagle, common crane, dalmatian pelican, red squirrel, some smalls birds, pheasans and ground bird like great bustard.
Some Toad, newt, salamandes, small river fishes, frogs, glow worm, esclupian snake, other snake and lizards species and even pond turtle and locally extinct insect species.
Are plausible.
Or even bison, golden eagle, white tailed eagle, water buffalo and boars who know.
Or maybe even Europan Bighorn sheep
I want bear. They deserve to live.
@@jollyjokress3852
Yes.
But let's start with wolves and lynxes first.
You can't just throw the only really dangerous predator like that
You first need to prepare for cohabitation.
Like reintroducing lynx
The least problematic specie.
Then wolves, wich is not dangerous but do dammage to sheeps.
Then once farmers and the population are ok with living with them we can reintroduce bears.
Or even leopard (they were in Europe and UK too).
A Wolf can run 100 km on one night. On a week he can run from Knepp to the Scottish border.
Lynx are more stationary and less known due to its great shyness.
The problem with Wolf and Lynx is that modern livestock have lost the ability to defend themselves. If a Wolf enters a sheepfold it can kill hundreds of sheep in a couple of hours.
Older breeds of livestocks have better ability to defend themselves, but they are therefore more dangerous to humans.
@@tangosmurfen2376
Well that why we should start with lynx wich don't prey to much on cattle and sheep
Nature is incredibly reslient. If we just stop doing harm, get out of her way, she will do the rest as she sees fit.
Given the opportunity (and perhaps some help), Nature knows how to bring back into equilibrium that which we have thrown off kilter. We're in the process of transforming our front and back yards back into the desert-scape they once were long ago. It's going to take a bit of investment, but I look forward to seeing the outcome and how indigenous creatures fill the space.
Rural Yorkshire , Scotland and Wales has been devastated and stripped bare with all the sheep. Unproductive farms on very marginal lands heavily subsidised .
we need to re forest marginal farmlands and re wild these unproductive farmlands
Food can be grown in urban, high rise areas. Large, monoculture farming is an economic dinosaur and a disaster for the environment. Kudos to projects like these!
That's cool. But I have mixed feelings firstly because for the UK and the whole world to get to a point of so many species' extictions a lot happened, secondly how do these rewildlings cope with the people and lobby who want to burn it all down and make room for farming and mining?
Like... what if a random guy start a fire?
There are fires happening all over the world: California, Portugal, Australia, the Amazon and Pantanal in Brazil.
And there is hunting and the killing of big cats where cattle farms are spreading.
The wildest of animals is the human being.
This is all great but our watercourses are dire with major pollution pressures from various sources.
Yay! 🙂
I found myself immediately thinking that, after a few more years, they'll need some top predators too. As without predation, I assume there's increased pressure on the plants from the herbivores. Is the size of the reserve sufficiently large to support that?
You forgot about people. They can destroy everything. Angriest and hungriest predators on the planet.
wonderful ! I am so glad to see another piece of wildernis growing in Europe - finally the responsible people get anything real done! They have sure wasted enough time and money and blown enough Co2 into the air traveling and flying to the ends of the world to look at Nature. And there is nothting pioneering about this! Rewilding projects have successfully been done for a very long time in many countries and versions. Please be more humble and honest. And the success is purely due to Nature. The basis was the failing of agricultural practices and the giving up of fighting against Nature with agricultural practices.
Oh to be part of the Landed Gentry.
I agree we should have way more hands on the dirt fixing our animals land and home for more cute animals
How do you prevent overgrazing without apex predators. Is hunting allowed?
It's absolutely lovely but how do they pay for it?
Try Google translate Knepp from Danish/Norwegian to English
It's a very nice project, but the question of the regulation of large herbivores will soon arise. Do you plan to reintroduce large natural predators like the wolf? (what Yellowstone Park has done with great success to restore the ecological balance) Otherwise how are you going to do? Greetings from France.
Yes there ya a huge problem in Killarney National Park in Ireland.Deer are eating all the native tree sapling and undergrowth and rhododendrons and laurel trees have taken over most of it.
@@Gos1234567to be fair, rhododendrons don't need deer in order to take over, they don't need anything, they're thugs.
Isn't anyone worried about feeding our population ? The uk already only manages to produce half of its food, and many food exporting countries are also reeling back on their agricultural production, food takes time to grow, it cannot be switched on in an instant !!
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
The best way to encourage rewilding is to eat plants. Most of our farmland is taken up by domestic animals, which provide us with very few calories. If we all started eating more plants huge areas of land given over to farm animals would be freed up. It's also worthwhile bearing in mind that the rainforests in the Amazon and the rest of the world are being cut down to make space for soya and corn which are then exported to the US and Europe and fed to animals. You can see this particularly in the Netherlands, which is actually enforcing the reduction in animal farming partly because the animals were producing so many faeces that they had to export them. The Netherlands exports vat qualities of meat. The seas near the rivers in the US and Europe are often pretty well dead because of the volume of faeces flowing in
No. Just no. Here's where good ideas are taken to extremes. Traditional mixed farming is wonderful for the countryside when done in the right way in the right place. Go and read James Rebanks "English Patoral: an Inheritance". The meat produced from traditional mixed British grassland farms is wonderful for the environment in so many ways. It is the absolute opposite end of the scale from giant American and Brazilian beef factory-farms.
@@MikeAG333
Well said👍
Reminds me of the chap , South African I think, who was combatting desertification in arid areas of Africa by reintroducing certain breeds of cattle. It seemed counter intuitive but it worked.
@@rachelbatt6693 "The government". Like there is only one. Righto, are we supposed to guess, or is it that in your messed-up world there is only one government, and everything it does is a conspiracy against its populace?
Natural forests? In the UK there are not really any natural forests left. Although I am a fan of this type of project, one has to ask how much room is there for this to be replicated nation wide?
Loads of room. It’s about better utilising the space we have. Create hedgerows, adopt agroforestry, farm differently. There has to be a balance between agricultural production and biodiversity and at the moment there isn’t.
This is actually a common misconception Steph, the UK has tonnes of room to build on. Less than 10% of the UK has been built on. One study thought it was close to 2%. The rest is farmland and natural habitats.
I'd say some farmers would turn a better profit if they rewilded areas like this and charged admission to whatever extent is feasible. Like you say, properly managed bio-diverse forests are, to put it mildly, pretty thin on the ground in the UK. The quality of habitat here in N.Ireland is embarrassing. I feel we've definitely turned a corner though and projects like this are so inspiring!
Rewilding projects needn't all be massive endeavors like Knepp. I've been rewilding my small suburban backyard and have already seen an explosion of life like in Knepp!
Just about every environment on the planet has been touched and changed by ancient humans hunting and transplanting plants they liked for tens of thousands of years. If natural means absolutely no effect by humans then since our atmosphere has artificially higher CO2 than it should, the only truly natural places on the planet are underground or in caves. We think, remember, and then use thoughts and memories to change our environment more than other species and that s all that really sets us apart from at least other mammals. The rest of nature does most of not all of what we do in some form, only in a natural balance there's a limiting factor for everything and the extinction rate is steady.
What the industrialized world most often thinks of when we say "nature" or "natural" is an environment that is left to its own devices and maintains itself, which ironically is not happening in many places that we use to build the mental image of nature. Often times in the US the industry that cleared the land near people gets left and the invasives fill the spaces where diversity used to be, and without predators to control anything. Humans can be a part of nature if our actions help or emulate other species more than harming them.
It's understandable why people separate us from nature in "civilized" society, but in a time like this where we have so much of this planet is mismanaged, as many people as possible need to understand that we are an extension of nature, and that our presence can make the environment more natural, and sooner than it would take for species to evolve for invasives and spread back to their previous range. To fix things we basically only need to maintain or restore the balance and diversity that natural ecosystems need to thrive, mitigate our effects on it, and keep as many native species as possible. Otherwise things will get worse until our environment limits us by collapsing as it carries us.
The "hunter-gatherers" often maintained the land they lived in before monoculture farming, and modern industry became widespread. The way they did it was just messier than the newer intensive farming techniques of Eurasia, which allowed humanity to grow faster than it's understanding.
The most similar thing to us overall is ants, they have similar strengths and weaknesses, they can farm, communicate and plan as a group, defoliate large areas, and the biggest thing that keeps them from destroying everything as our civilization has is their size and the fact they they've been warring with other ants since the cretaceous. We want to make our own choice for how we are limited, before we let nature or our own tendency for conflict do it anyways, understanding that we're a part of nature allows us to make the best compromise for us and the planet.
After hearing the recent news of Labour’s land reform, is this a new concern of land being sold off cheaply for new housing and these rewilding opportunities being exhausted?
What about foxes, badgers, martins, and some keystone predators? Are they moving back in too?
Developers in England just see pounds when they look at a piece of land like that….that’s the problem.
What about large predators?
The reason kepp is so successful is because it told goverments ideals of conservation to "go do one". They also told anyone who came to give them target's to "go do one" at the expence of thousands in grants. Go read the book. They have litraly turned conservation and the way yo do it on its head.
Where are the mammalian and avian predators? A complete ecosystem always has them.
Predators are necessary to keep the balance right. No one has mentioned them. Bear, lynx and wolf are wanted
Hopefully the UK can reintroduce natural predators like the Lynx and wolves maybe even bears though I doubt it
What about the reintroduction of wolves and lynxes?
Knepp in English: 😁
Knep(p) in Danish:😳
This is in England, so let's use the English spelling, hey.
@@MikeAG333they are pointing out that 'knepp' means something very different in danish 😂
monocultures are the bane of the planet!
Also im vegan flexi vegatarian I prayise what I advocate its a ist choice if u care about the environment if yr. circumstance choice allows it I choose It its a lifestyle to me daily modus operandi ❤
what prevents over grazing? there's no wolves, jackals, bears, or Lynx to discourage over grazing.
Edit* I didn't know they cull and sell the meat.
Eventually it will be important to introduce predator species to the ecosystem to complete it tho.
I highly recommend that you introduce Gambusia Affinis, AKA Mosquito Fish in the beaver ponds. This will virtually eliminate the threat of diseases like Equine Encephalitis which could otherwise become a threat in the near future. I used them in a project to reduce flooding and erosion in 1996 and they've done a wonderful job keeping mosquitos and blackflies almost non-existent.
What predators are you using to control the herbivores?
How do they keep the Exmoor ponies' population in check? I'm assuming people don't buy pony sausages?
I've got a question. How is this system sustainable without any large predators? won't this lead to exploding populations of large herbivores that will eat all shrubs and young trees?
In 20 years UK will have better ecosystems than any european country where ecosystems were never damaged very much.
I applaud this effort. This and many like this is inspiring. Yet in my area, Florida, I see empty scrub Pine and Palmetto acreage being bulldozed for many new $400K townhouse complexes. In the past two years, maybe 5 complexes in just the towns of Stuart and Jensen Beach.
Sorry, but I really have to wonder if we start to measure the pluses and minuses are things still One Foot Forward and Two Feet Back?
I hope not. But I can't see the forest for the trees metaphorically speaking. We are naturally myopic by nature. It takes this invention the Internet to bring us the truth. I will not want to travel to all these new and revived places. I understand the need for Ecotourism, but travel is a bit of a strain too on things. Maybe just the people working the projects can keep up the work and give us posts from time to time. But I am trying not to drive that much. And buying an Electric Vehicle, well is that just trading one problem for another?
Where did that car's battery come from. Did the Lithium miner use hundreds of thousands of rare ground water to purify and extract the Lithium? And what about those batteries in ten years? Where do they all go? Will we be dumping them in landfills by the hundred's of thousands soon enough?
I hate to sound negative, but we've got to change the whole lot of it really. Maybe it's a good thing that folks seem to be having fewer kids. Not that I hate people. But does the Earth really need 8 or 9 billion of us? Would things be just fine, maybe even better if we had just 8-9 hundred million of us globally? I am not saying lets all jump off a cliff. But we could take the next 40-50 years and slow down, and make a few less people and buy a few less cars and trips to Hawaii. It could even put a chill in the air. Wouldn't that be grand?
Intense land use is certainly is not good for wildlife but what people don’t seem to get is that it is not necessary to introduce non indigenous animals to correct it , just leave it all alone and it comes back as before. Beavers for instance eat tree bark, they kill large numbers of trees and create muddy lagoons not swift flowing clean rivers that our hard pressed migratory fish can live in, please don’t re introduce them they don’t help at all. Just give the land time, it will resurrect all the native flora and fauna.
Ignore my mispells in print .dyslexia artrithis smart tech phone do not enable ese in typing enjoy the beautiful photography.but wise up.please
What's the plan for when someone randomly decide it's cool to start a fire and burn it all down?
I am not saying it's going to happen but all things on this earth are vunerable to any one person taking one crazy action...
Playing devils advocate. What of the loss of the farmland in terms food production? How is that factored into the bigger picture. Someone below mentions the meat from the animals, but is the output of food production equivalent to the previous farm? Or is it a case, that we gradually re-wild and improve UK biodiversity and force somewhere else to adopt a far more efficient food production process to enable us to continue eating at the expense of someone else's biodiversity?
Predatory pressure is humans I suppose?
of course we are, humans are voracious and destructive predators, this should be obvious to all of us by now.
They originally wanted permission to introduce wolves in contained areas, but couldn't get legal permission, so they're forced to do it themselves. At the same time as culling excess herbivore populations they sell the meat as an ultra-organic, ethically sourced product. I had some not long after my visit 3 years ago, and it was delicious.
They originally had a lot of other lofty plans for the project that they couldn't get legal permission for, but you can read about those in the book on the project "Wilding" written by the wife of the owner.
what will control the populations of all those herbivores
Game keepers, shooters