On April 24 this year, one of the first members of the European Rewilding Network – the European Bison Project in Kraansvlak – celebrated its 10 year anniversary. In this blog, European Rewilding Network Exchange Officer and bison project coordinator Yvonne Kemp shares an inspirational story about the developing relationship between European bison and the people of the Netherlands.

This spring proved to be a very interactive one for Rewilding Europe’s Oder Delta team.

Rewilding Europe is creating space for natural processes like forest regeneration, free flowing rivers, herbivory and carnivory to impact ecosystems. Across the continent, the interaction of these processes leads to constantly evolving landscapes rather than fixed habitats. A forest today can be a grassland over time, and vice versa. Understanding this dynamic is the key to preserving Europe’s rich biodiversity.

Rewilding Europe’s writer and editor Daniel Allen spoke with Alexandros Karamanlidis, our regional manager and PhD wildlife biologist about the resurgence of apex predators across much of Europe, and the implications for conservation strategies and tourism.

Volen Arkumarev, a conservation officer with the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB), is working on the LIFE Vultures project. He recounts a record breaking griffon vulture monitoring session in the Rhodope Mountains.

Tom Verhoeve, an intern for Associaçâo Transumância e Natureza, shares his experience in Rewilding Europe’s Western Iberia rewilding area.

Today, conflicts with man still threaten Europe’s large carnivores species, and prevent the full recovery of their populations. In the past, strategies to mitigate these conflicts have varied between different European countries, they have typically focused on keeping large carnivores away from humans, either by eradicating them, or by restricting human access to areas where these carnivores exist.

Situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, the Rhodope Mountains are a unique ecosystem with a rich biological heritage. For more than 20 years, Stoycho Stoychev has been working to preserve this place that he calls home; the Bulgarian has long been considered a champion for the conservation of local wildlife.

Field trips in the Oder Delta reveal the potential for restoring fish migration.

Jelle Harms, an expert mapper and spatial analyst currently working with the LIFE Vultures project, tells us about his valuable work.