Thanks to local projects around the world and high profile personalities such as Sir David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg, the term ‘rewilding’ has gained enormous prominence, and for many has come to epitomise hope in the face of environmental catastrophe. Coetir Anian has been used by some as an example – however we do not describe the project as ‘rewilding’. We set out the reasoning below.
The problem with this term is that it is not well defined and means many different things to different people. Locally, the term ‘rewilding’ has been largely perceived as synonymous with land abandonment. Our management of our site at Bwlch Corog is active and involves restorative interventions and the reintroduction of grazing animals (after several years with no grazing before we acquired the land) as well as nature connection and educational programmes. Indeed, grazing and the periodic employment of local agricultural contractors are vital parts of our land management. This is a long way from land abandonment.
Within the rewilding movement there is much debate about what the term means. The most simple definition refers to making a place (or person) more wild: this is a good interpretation, but depends on what you mean by ‘wild’ and, related to this, attracts a value judgement on whether ‘wild’ is a good or bad thing. There has also been debate around whether a rewilded landscape can have any human intervention, and if so in what form. For example, is tree planting a suitable approach? And what about removal of non-native species, for example sitka spruce? Further debate focuses on the role of grazing by large herbivores: some commentators consider grazing to be anomalous to rewilding (see for example Mark Fisher), while many see some level of grazing and browsing to be a natural part of a wild landscape and therefore a welcome component of rewilding. And if large herbivores are present, should their population be left unmanaged as at Oostvaardesplassen in Holland, or is management of herbivore numbers preferable as at Knepp Estate in Sussex?
Amongst people outside the rewilding movement there are also differences in perceptions. As a broad generalisation, many urban people have a positive view of rewilding as an antidote to the continuing loss of wildlife from the landscape despite the protective measures of traditional conservation strategies. Rural people, especially those engaged in farming or gamekeeping, tend to be more suspicious of rewilding. Coetir Anian is a community project founded by local people in Machynlleth, just a few miles from our site. Set within a rural community where livestock farming is a predominant activity, we are very conscious of the perceptions of rewilding locally. Many within the farming sector tend to interpret rewilding as meaning the reintroduction of large carnivores and land abandonment, and consider it likely to lead to loss of livelihoods, depopulation of the area, loss of farming heritage, and here in Wales the loss of the language, which has one of its few remaining strongholds in the farming community.
Coetir Anian is about habitat and species restoration and providing opportunities for people to interact with nature first hand. It is first and foremost a community resource, where local people can participate in a project set in their local landscape, or use the site for recreation, including wild camping, in a place where they can feel they belong, where they do not need to pay for the privilege. Most people are cut off from the land and have a longing to connect with nature, but often feel like intruders in the landscape. Coetir Anian seeks to redress this imbalance – connection with the land should not be the preserve of a fortunate minority, but the right of all people. This is how the project aims to serve the local community.
The project is providing employment and is deeply rooted in the natural and cultural heritage of the area. Within living memory, these hills were alive with the call of curlew and grouse, the rivers were teeming with salmon and trout. We want to see the return of this natural abundance characteristic of the area.
In conclusion, we are committed to the restoration of wild nature at Bwlch Corog in the context of local conditions, natural and cultural heritage, and the Welsh language. Given the wide range of different perceptions of the meaning of the term ‘rewilding’, including that of land abandonment and loss of livelihoods, which are the opposite of what Coetir Anian is achieving, it is not appropriate for us to use of the word to describe our activities. We do hope that those people with a positive interest in ‘rewilding’, as a stimulus for the return of natural abundance to the land, will continue to be drawn to the project – along with those understandably wary of the term and how it has been used in some contexts.