European Rewilding Network
Dauphiné Alps
Alpine ibex in front of Mont Aiguille at sunset in the Dauphiné Alps, France.
Luca Melcarne
Nelleke de Weerd
Tourists are photographing and looking at Eurasian griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) around the village of Rémuzat (Drôme, France).
Emmanuel Rondeau
Vercors national park in the Dauphiné Alps rewilding landscape in France
Nelleke de Weerd
Nelleke de Weerd
Red deer roaring through woodland. Dauphiné Alps, France.
Luca Melcarne
The launch event of the Dauphiné Alps rewilding landcsape in the village of Rémuzat.
Stephane PALLAVISINI
The Dauphiné Alps rewilding landscape covers approximately 500,000 hectares between the cities of Grenoble, Montélimar, and Gap. This area is characterised by diverse landscapes, ranging from Mediterranean vegetation to alpine zones, with vast swathes of forest and semi-wooded heathland, as well as mountain meadows, numerous cliffs, and some of the most important braided river sections in France.
Their rich natural heritage is entwined with a cultural history shaped by generations of farmers and rural communities. The rewilding landscape encompasses several renowned protected areas, such as the Vercors and Baronnies provençales regional natural parks, and is home to iconic wildlife species such as wolves, vultures, and Alpine ibex.
Project:
Dauphiné Alps
Region:
Grenoble, Montélimar, and Gap, France
Keystone species:
Alpine ibex
Type of project:
Creating space for wilder nature, Fostering the development of nature based economies, Increasing interest in the wild through communications, Magnification of rewilding impact and practices, Supporting wildlife comeback
Aim and vision:
he ongoing recovery of nature in the Dauphiné Alps will support well-being, provide economic opportunities, and reconnect people with the wild. Through collaboration with rewilding-aligned entrepreneurs, forest owners, farmers, and other landowners and managers, a stronger, sustainable nature-based economy will be developed, creating new jobs and income, supporting further rewilding efforts, and offering a wilder, more hopeful future for everyone living in and around the landscape, with people and wild nature thriving together.
Rewilding efforts will see the Dauphiné Alps become a more climate-resilient landscape, where wilder forests are interconnected through an extensive network of reserves, without any extraction of natural resources. Natural grazing with rewilded horses and bovines will be widely adopted to maintain and restore biodiversity-rich, wildfire-resistant habitat mosaics. These will form the watersheds for free-flowing, wilder rivers, connected with their floodplains.
Other activities:
Community involved, High-impact communications
Results so far:
Rewilding France is just getting started, but in terms of rewilding efforts on the ground, there have already been significant achievements in our landscape. If you take the Vercors mountain range, for example, wildlife populations here were hugely depleted by the 1950s. Since then, decisive efforts have been carried out by hunters, foresters, and regional parks, such as the reintroductions of red deer in 1959, roe deer in 1968, ibex and marmots in 1989, griffon vultures in 1996, and bearded vultures in 2010.
Inspirational value:
Our priority will be to ensure that the motivation and willingness to engage in rewilding that residents, institutions, and other stakeholders have shown since we carried out the feasibility study have led to the first tangible rewilding actions.<br />
With the involvement and drive of supporters and partners, we are aiming to showcase concrete examples of what is possible in the coming years. We want to develop sites that demonstrate how forests, grasslands, and rivers can be rewilded, which can be shown to others who may be interested in joining the movement
Experience you would like to share:
Creating and sharing a positive and inspiring narrative about the return of wild nature in the Dauphiné Alps, uniting and energising people by promoting a hopeful future for the region, its nature, and its residents.
Experience you would like to gain:
Supporting collaborative approaches to wildlife co-existence, using governance models that give voice to stakeholders, facilitate information sharing, and foster solutions through constructive dialogue.
Country
France
Start year
2025
Size (ha)
500000
Area type
Forest-grassland mosaic, Mountainous, River
Natural process
Predation, Scavenging
Flagship species
Ibex, Vulture, Wolf
Alpine ibex in front of Mont Aiguille at sunset in the Dauphiné Alps, France.
Luca Melcarne
Nelleke de Weerd
Tourists are photographing and looking at Eurasian griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) around the village of Rémuzat (Drôme, France).
Emmanuel Rondeau
Vercors national park in the Dauphiné Alps rewilding landscape in France
Nelleke de Weerd
Nelleke de Weerd
Red deer roaring through woodland. Dauphiné Alps, France.
Luca Melcarne
The launch event of the Dauphiné Alps rewilding landcsape in the village of Rémuzat.
Stephane PALLAVISINI
The Dauphiné Alps rewilding landscape covers approximately 500,000 hectares between the cities of Grenoble, Montélimar, and Gap. This area is characterised by diverse landscapes, ranging from Mediterranean vegetation to alpine zones, with vast swathes of forest and semi-wooded heathland, as well as mountain meadows, numerous cliffs, and some of the most important braided river sections in France.
Their rich natural heritage is entwined with a cultural history shaped by generations of farmers and rural communities. The rewilding landscape encompasses several renowned protected areas, such as the Vercors and Baronnies provençales regional natural parks, and is home to iconic wildlife species such as wolves, vultures, and Alpine ibex.
Country
France
Start year
2025
Size (ha)
500000
Area type
Forest-grassland mosaic, Mountainous, River
Natural process
Predation, Scavenging
Flagship species
Ibex, Vulture, Wolf
Specification
Project:
Dauphiné Alps
Region:
Grenoble, Montélimar, and Gap, France
Keystone species:
Alpine ibex
Description
Type of project:
Creating space for wilder nature, Fostering the development of nature based economies, Increasing interest in the wild through communications, Magnification of rewilding impact and practices, Supporting wildlife comeback
Aim and vision:
he ongoing recovery of nature in the Dauphiné Alps will support well-being, provide economic opportunities, and reconnect people with the wild. Through collaboration with rewilding-aligned entrepreneurs, forest owners, farmers, and other landowners and managers, a stronger, sustainable nature-based economy will be developed, creating new jobs and income, supporting further rewilding efforts, and offering a wilder, more hopeful future for everyone living in and around the landscape, with people and wild nature thriving together.
Rewilding efforts will see the Dauphiné Alps become a more climate-resilient landscape, where wilder forests are interconnected through an extensive network of reserves, without any extraction of natural resources. Natural grazing with rewilded horses and bovines will be widely adopted to maintain and restore biodiversity-rich, wildfire-resistant habitat mosaics. These will form the watersheds for free-flowing, wilder rivers, connected with their floodplains.
Other activities:
Community involved, High-impact communications
Achievements
Results so far:
Rewilding France is just getting started, but in terms of rewilding efforts on the ground, there have already been significant achievements in our landscape. If you take the Vercors mountain range, for example, wildlife populations here were hugely depleted by the 1950s. Since then, decisive efforts have been carried out by hunters, foresters, and regional parks, such as the reintroductions of red deer in 1959, roe deer in 1968, ibex and marmots in 1989, griffon vultures in 1996, and bearded vultures in 2010.
Exchange
Inspirational value:
Our priority will be to ensure that the motivation and willingness to engage in rewilding that residents, institutions, and other stakeholders have shown since we carried out the feasibility study have led to the first tangible rewilding actions.<br />
With the involvement and drive of supporters and partners, we are aiming to showcase concrete examples of what is possible in the coming years. We want to develop sites that demonstrate how forests, grasslands, and rivers can be rewilded, which can be shown to others who may be interested in joining the movement
Experience you would like to share:
Creating and sharing a positive and inspiring narrative about the return of wild nature in the Dauphiné Alps, uniting and energising people by promoting a hopeful future for the region, its nature, and its residents.
Experience you would like to gain:
Supporting collaborative approaches to wildlife co-existence, using governance models that give voice to stakeholders, facilitate information sharing, and foster solutions through constructive dialogue.