With the economic value of wildlife as its special focus, a seminar called ”LARGE 2012” was held at the Museum of Modern Arts in Stockholm, Sweden on January 31, organised by the Swedish Ecotourism Association together with the ”Big Five” national large carnivore information center.
During December, representatives of the Rewilding Europe enterprise team have visited the Eastern Carpathians, Southern Carpathians and Western Iberia project sites. Enterprise development within Rewilding Europe remains at a very early planning stage, however some clear conservation business development and financing possibilities are emerging.
Right at dawn, the first eagle lands outside. A magnificent adult Golden eagle! 15 metres away. Through my telephoto lens I can see straight into the amber-coloured, piercing eyes of the eagle. The eagle gaze is not easily forgotten. I have seen golden eagles thousands of times, but almost always only at rather long distance, through powerful binoculars or telescopes. They are wonderful to see every time, but seeing them up close is a completely new dimension.
The Iberian Peninsula is one of the oldest inhabited territories in Europe. In Western Iberia man always lived in and with nature resulting in a spectacular landscape with dehesas, mountain ridges and valleys with steep cliffs. Right now, the situation is changing.
In a recent, three-day period I had wild encounters of similar sorts on two continents. Both encounters tell a story of past and current “re-wilding,” enabled through the vision and dedication of people and organizations that understand the essential role of wildness in a healthy and sane planet earth. We need these positive stories as much as we need the return of wildness that they chronicle.
Following the successful seminar held in mid October in Finland, now comes the process of trying to develop successful conservation enterprises in our rewilding areas. At the seminar, we first challenged ourselves to consider what each of us understood by the term “conservation”. Was this a preservationist approach, where we sought to protect what is already there? Or a more dynamic approach where we seek to stimulate existing ecosystems and natural processes – and indeed create new ones?
From 9 to 14 October, Rewilding Europe organized a Training Seminar on Wildlife Watching and Conservation Enterprise Development in Finland. Representatives of the five rewilding projects from various European countries travelled all the way up to Finland to learn from first-hand experience in the Kuhmo region, which is famous for its bear-watching facilities.
In late August and in the beginning of September people in The Netherlands and Belgium welcomed the first wolves in their countries since more than 100 years! Two countries with rapidly increasing numbers of wild herbivores in their natural areas. During the same period wild horses from The Netherlands were released in Latvia and Bulgaria, countries rich in wolves. Is this a coincidence?
Why did the Aurochs and Wisent/European bison disappear from large parts of Europe, and in some areas already thousands of years ago?
„Look at how the bark beetle influences the spruce forests – the affected trees appear as small islands in the larger forest landscape”. Tea Silic, biologist at the Northern Velebit National Park, shows us around in the park in preparation for the start-up of one of Rewilding Europe’s field projects.