Travel journalist turned farmer and now rewilding advocate Isabel Tree”s book Wilding is a beautiful tale of her and her partner Charles transition from modern farming to pioneering rewilding conservationists on Knepp their 3,500 acre estate in West Sussex. Tree writes with passion, conviction and love about their transition from farmers to land guardians, their discovery of a very particular school of rewilding.
The modern concept of rewilding, the purposeful management of land to return to its “natural” state; has gained an audience in the last two decades in post industrial societies. The devastation caused to biodiversity caused by post War industrial farming, and urban expansion, from the range and numbers of birds, plants, trees, animals, insects and soil has concerned scientists, ecologists, conservationists and inceasingly national and international governments.
What to do to remedy the multitude of problems and issues have almost been as diverse as the number of problems themselves. Solutions have ranged from trying to alter the direction of the Juggernaut of industrial agriculture by amending the state subsidies, for example the establishment of a second environmental to the Common Agricultural Policy to reward more environmental objectives which has had mixed, to say the least, impact, to specific projects centred on protecting individual at risk species, to the reintroduction of apex predators such as bears into the Pyrenees.
The Knepp approach is a radical break from the dominant if somewhat muddled thinking on conservation. If I understand it right there is a strong school of thought that left to its own devices in climates like the UK natures default mode is to revert to forest, so that a squirrel could pass from Land’s End to John O’Groats by a vast canopy of tree tops. Human activity, particularly agriculture but also urban expansion has cleared the wooded areas to provide the fields necessary to feed an expanding population, and provide living space. Hence the priorities of opposing deforestation in developing countries and promoting reforestation in post industrial countries. What Tree argues;, based on pioneering work done in all places the Netherlands, is that this model misses out on the impact of large mammals on vegetation. Herbivores such as cattle, deer and horses alongside omnivores such as wild boar would have a limiting impact on forestation. Drawing inspiration from the Yellowstone National Park to the Serengeti Tree argues that it is the interaction between the vegetation and the mammals that creates the ideal balance that allows biodiversity to flourish.
To this effect Knepp has introduced an ancient herd of cattle, deer and fell ponies. . The rules on wild boar breeding in the UK have prohibited their reintroduction so a hardy family of pigs has been used as their replacement. Forestry management has also undergone a change with a more hands off approach being used, letting old and fallen trees in place to allow for their natural decomposition, rotting tree trunks are a universe in and off themselves of insects and fungi. The neat arrangement of trimmed hedges and contained woodland has been allowed to sprawl and the increase in insect life documented by scientists and amateur enthusiasts alike. Tree documents the explosion of wildlife in the past decade with detail, passion and not a small amount of wonder. She also deals fair handily with local opposition to the changes from both local farmers and inhabitants. With reactions spreading from horror at the chaos of their land, anger at restrictions to let dogs off their lead, bemusement at the waste of farm land the Public Relations battle has a long way to go/ That is also not to mention the institutional debates and decisions necessary to prise aid out of the various state and para statal bodies that oversee conservationist projects In the United Kingdom.
What is fascinating about the book is the jump from micro to macro, one minute discussing the type of butterflies to be found in the meadows; to next minute looking at the meaning of the word forest in pre industrial legal texts, from the migratory oaths of turtle doves to the setting of base lines in biodiversity targets.
I found Isabel Tree’s way of writing both accessible and enjoyable. While I have a number of issues with rewilding in general the energy and pure enjoyment of the experiment is refreshing. Definitely worth nipping down to the local library for.
