The European Commission has approved the LIFE proposal “Conservation of Black and Griffon vultures in the cross-border Rhodope Mountains”, developed by Rewilding Europe in partnership with Rewilding Rhodopes Foundation, Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds/Birdlife Bulgaria, WWF Greece, Vulture Conservation Foundation and Hellenic Ornithological Society/BirdLife Greece.
On September 17th, the seventh web-based seminar of the European Rewilding Network took place and this time members from several rewilding sites in Europe discussed how to restore food chains and the ways rewilding contributes to this. The webinar specifically addressed the crucial importance of dead animals in nature and consequently the chances for scavengers feeding upon them, all to restore natural food chains in our European ecosystems: the Circle of Life.
Today, Wouter Helmer, co-founder and Rewilding Director of Rewilding Europe, received a prestigious Dutch conservation award, the ‘Groeneveld Award’ (Groeneveldprijs) at the Groeneveld Castle in Baarn, the Netherlands. The award council report describes Wouter Helmer as ‘an instigator of modern ecology, a brilliant and connecting thinker and a great communicator.
Rewilding Europe Capital is Europe’s first rewilding enterprise funding facility that provides development loans and business support to new and existing businesses that look for opportunities created by the emerging rewilding movement across Europe. In its first stage, covering less than two years, REC supported 16 enterprises in four different countries (Portugal, Italy, Croatia and Romania) creating over 30 new jobs and enhancing the rewilding of 20,000 ha of land.
The European Commission has approved the LIFE proposal “Urgent actions for the recovery of European Bison populations in Romania”, developed by Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania to support the reintroduction of the European bison into the Tarçu Mountains Natura 2000 site in the Southern Carpathians rewilding landscape. The funding will be used to build a viable population of European bison in this area, by releasing in total 100 animals in the coming five years.
Between March and July this year, in total 18 European bison calves have been born in European Rewilding Network member areas. These (semi-)wild new-borns add up to the total number of 5555 individuals registered in the European Bison Pedigree Book (December 2014). The European bison is still listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, although in many places in our continent great work is ongoing to create a better future for the species. All these initiatives help the European bison to roam more of Europe’s natural and semi-natural landscapes.
Today, Rewilding Europe launches a new publication focusing on sharing practices on natural grazing as a key ecological process. The publication “Natural Grazing – Practices in the rewilding of cattle and horses” will help rewilding initiatives from all over Europe to learn and adopt some of the latest lessons and practices on setting up and developing natural grazing initiatives.
Ten days ago, one of the females from the founder herd of the European bison roaming the Tarcu Mountains for over a year now, gave birth to a healthy calf. The now 7-year-old female bison arrived in the Southern Carpathians rewilding area in Romania in May 2014 as part of the reintroduction and rewilding initiative led by Rewilding Europe and WWF-Romania.
The term ‘rewilding’ is being recognised and acknowledged more widely and more frequently in Europe, while many initiatives and organisations have started to use this term. But what is ‘rewilding’ and how do we like to use it in the European context? It is for this reason that we have developed a working definition of ‘rewilding’ and first published this in our Annual Review 2014.
Last Wednesday marked the birth of the first bison calf in the Rhodope Mountains rewilding area. European bison arrived to the Studen Kladenets Reserve in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria at the end of October 2013. The newborn bison calf is healthy, in good condition and well accepted by its parents.