The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees Steve Cracknell

The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees by Corbieres base writer Steve Cracknell is a fascinating look at rural life in the High Pyrenees. Steve Cracknell, an old neighbour of mine from the Ribaute days, is a passionate walker, and equally passionate lover of the Pyrennes, that mountain chain that runs on both sides of the French, Catalan, Basque and Spanish border. In the twenty or so years I have known Steve and his partner Veronica, he has been walking the mountains, the GR10, that runs from Hendaye in the Basque country and finally plunges down to the Med at Banyuls in French Catalania is one of his regular haunts.

The rural life of these high peaks has changed remarkably since the 1960s. The mines have closed, the high thermal spring resorts do loved by the English aristocracy since the days of Wellington have fallen into disrepair, and the pastoralists of the high valleys and summer estives struggle to make a living on the lush high pastures in Summer and the lower land grazing in the Winter. Although much reduced in numbers, both of animals and farmers the transhumance, the movement of animals and people, still plays a very important economic and cultural role  in the annual life of the mountains. The disappearance of the French weaving and textile industry that has been going on since the Napoleonic wars, when the British navy blockaded the Mediterranean ports cutting the industry off from their main export markets in the Middle East has reduced the domestic demand for wool to virtually zero. Sheep are now raised primarily for mil and meat. Flock sizes have massively reduced and the economics of sheep raising has radically changed. Without Common Agricultural Policy aid from the EU, and often second jobs or other adjacent agricultural activity such as cheese making,  the life of a modern high land shepherd is economically unsustainable.

The economy of the high Pyrenees has transformed post war, where as the agricultural sector has declined due to the areas inadaptability to mechanisation, rural flight, and changing consumer habits. The spread and improvements of the roads network has made parts of the Pyrenees mountains much more accessible to the outside world, as have the ski lifts. Henry Russell, the famous Franco Irish mountaineer would be spinning in his grave if he could see the number of his loathed tourists now visit his old haunts.

But Summer walkers, quads, cyclists, paragliders and Winter skiers have breathed new life into the economy of parts of the high Pyrenees, though global warming has lead many to question the medium term viability of the Pyrenean ski resorts. The affordability of land and abandoned houses, particularly by urban and Northern European standards has lead to the renovation of many abandoned villages as the possibility of cheap holiday homes with easy drivable distance from modern transport links, autoroutes, airports and rail stations has transformed the area. The population has also changed, with an aging local population being complemented by neo ruralists and recent retirees from urban areas.

However it is easy to over exaggerate this transformation, the high Pyrenees remains one of the lowest populated areas of France. It is not however an untouched natural paradise de-forestation caused by over felling, for the mines, the forges and to supply wood for construction, dams, ski resorts and animal grazing have all had an impact. Global warming and its related loss of biodiversity have changed the local environment radically. From the mycelium and soil microbes to top apex predators the whole natural web of life has undergone radical change. The last native Pyrenean bear, Camille, was reported missing, presumed dead in 2010.

In order to counter this loss of biodiversity one high profile response has been a push for rewilding, the re-introduction of species at all stages the food web, alongside replanting of native trees and aiding previously worked land to revert to nature. Much of this rewilding has been uncontroversial, the gradual replacement of fast growing pines with deciduous trees, the support for local herbivores such as the illusive Ibex have met near universal approval. The re-introduction of tope line predators such as bears and wolves however has touched a raw nerve amongst the local farming community.

It is into that controversy that Steve Cracknell plunges in The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees. Cracknell has spend many hours, and driven and walked many kilometres up and down the Pyrenees, on both sides of the frontier, to interview the main actors in the dispute about the reintroduction of the apex predators, from shepherds, Catalan, Spanish, French and Basque, to ecologists, conservationists, local Mayors and associations. I was fascinated by these interviews and the depth of research the author had done in giving all sides of the debate a fair hearing. He explore in great depths the length that shepherds have gone to to adapt to the new circumstances of dealing with predators. The reintroduction of Pyrenean mountain dogs that are raised with the sheep to defend the flocks, the revival of full time shepherds who stay with the flocks after the summer transhumance has brought the animals up to high pastures. The daily life of these shepherds is vividly captured in the pages of the book. The passion of the shepherds for their flocks is evident and the loss that goes beyond monetary concerns when a flock is attacked is superbly captured.

As well as spending a lot of time looking at the lives of the shepherds and their flocks and how they are adapting to the renew conditions Cracknell also interviews the pro rewilding actors, and the communities that have embraced the animals, from the Pays des Ours in the French Basque country that have made a positive marketing point of the reintroduction to the conservationists that support predators.

The author does not draw conclusions, but I feel gives both sides a fair and unbiased report. The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees is an important look at both sides of this controversy and should be read by both lovers of the Pyrenees and anyone involved in the wider rewilding debate, whatever personal opinions they hold to more fully understand both sides of teh argument.

I have already written in another post about rewilding  as I have some very strong ideas about who’s idea of nature and for whom rewilding involves.

The official website for t Steve Cracknell’s The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees

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