Scotland could become the world's first 'rewilding nation'. How did they get here?

[demmiblue]

Over the last 50 years, two-thirds of the world’s wildlife has been lost. Around 40 per cent of plant species are threatened with extinction and scientists say we may be losing them faster than they can find, name and study them.

Our world exists in a balance and, with so many species lost or disappearing, that balance is under threat. Restoring this natural mosaic of interrelated species is vital to the future health of the planet and our own, say experts.

Tree planting schemes, active conservation efforts, and high tech carbon capture solutions all look to help tackle biodiversity loss and the climate crisis.

But a growing number of people believe that the only way to bring back what we’ve lost is through trusting natural environments to recover themselves- a process called rewilding. For some, it can be a contentious issue with worries about the reintroduction of apex predators like wolves and the Eurasian Lynx.

The progressive conservation movement, however, has found particular resonance with one European nation.

https://www.euronews.com/living/2021/04/26/scotland-could-become-the-world-s-first-rewilding-nation-how-did-they-get-here

[mopinko]

1. i never heard this word until a couple of years ago

but it is what i did from day 1 on my farm.

here's where the big change occurred-
we found out how successful replanting native plants is.
now we know that nature will provide the exact right plants and animals if we just get the fuck out of the way.
the plants that have emerged on this property since i have owned it almost breaks my brain.
they were.not.seen in the 10 yrs before i bought it, and new ones show up every year.
a research project in our second year showed above average insect biodiversity. i can only imagine what it is now.

i would add 1 thing to the list of needs for this that is proposed in the article-
freedom from local ordinances, or hoa rules about "weeds"

[hunter]

2. Imagine what we could do if we quit growing corn for fuel ethanol...

... or feed for factory farm meat and dairy products.

We could pay farmers to restore their land or buy them out. We could restore forests and prairie environments.

Agricultural monoculture is terrible for wildlife. Endless fields of chemically drenched corn and soybeans are some of the most lifeless places on earth. There are livelier places in the great deserts of the world.

The land doesn't even have to be excluded from human use. Native Americans practiced a great deal of permaculture that only looked like wilderness to clueless European invaders.

[Delmette2.0]

3. How wolves saved Yellowstone.

Just search for it on Google or youtube.

Now Idaho Montana and Wyoming are bowing to cattle ranchers again and killing the wolves. Stupid plan.

[demmiblue]

4. That is discussed in the article:

A classic example of the success of rewilding can be found in Yellowstone National Park in the US. When wolves were hunted to near extinction at the start of the 20th century, their prey multiplied. Elk took over and their exploding numbers overgrazed the land.

It prevented trees like aspen and willow from reaching maturity. That in turn meant songbirds lost their habitat and beavers no longer had materials with which to build their dams. Riverbanks started to erode and water temperatures rose without the natural shade of the trees. The loss of Yellowstone’s wolves had a cascade effect on the park’s entire ecosystem.

Then, in 1995, 14 wolves were captured in Jasper National Park, Canada and transported across the border by wildlife officials. They were acclimated to their new surroundings and then released into the park to replace those lost in the preceding centuries.

Within 20 years, their numbers had boomed and the renewed presence of this apex predator had started to bring balance back to Yellowstone. Now the reintroduction is considered a model for how seemingly small steps like these can help to heal the natural environments we’ve ravaged.

[lookyhereyou]

10. pay the rancher for the loss from wolves

but the wolves need to be there for the

ecosystem to function . the rancher mind set

is out dated, placate them for now but don't give up

on rewilding.

[Delmette2.0]

12. Gov.Gianforte is allowing trapping.

I think it is so the state won't have to pay for losses to the ranchers. Then he can get rid of the program when the claims are reduced.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Was watching a nature doc on some local channel dealing with ticks and lyme disease...

A doctor/researcher was investigating how the local mice population transmitted the ticks to deer and to humans in the brush.

Concurrently, a biotech firm was developing gene therapy for the mice that made them resistant to the ticks. They would capture treat and release the mice back into the wild.

As I was watching the show I was wondering...gee, what might the situation be if we hadn't killed off all the wolves and lynx in the area (it was in New Jersey)? The lack of predators no doubt led to the mice overpopulating. We all know how rodents breed.

I'm not sure they were pursuing the best solution to the problem.

[BobTheSubgenius]

6. That one could expect less from a country whose national flag has an imaginary creature on it?

Who knows? Perhaps their efforts could produce a unicorn after all.

[sarge43]

8. Nitpick moment

By popular vote, the unicorn is their national animal. The flag of Scotland is a white St Andrew's cross on a blue background. Unicorns are the supporters on Scotland's coat of arms.

That would be wonderful to see unicorns chilling in fields of heather.

[Botany]

7. They can start with Trump's Aberdeen Golf Course

Those dunes communities have evolved over thousands of years to move w/the wind.

The course degrades the dunes, the inland communities, the beach, a river or creek that flows into
the Atlantic that crosses the course, and the ocean too.

BTW Scotland should seize the course. Trump promised thousands of jobs from the course that never
showed up too.

[samnsara]

9. my dtrs new inlaws live in Aberdeen..they all hate trump**