Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution
by Caroline Fraser
Metropolitian Books, New York, 2009
Borrowed from the library.
Rewilding is large-scale conservation based around the idea of cores, corridors and carnivores. This means restoring and protecting large areas of wilderness, like national or state parks, providing connectivity between these areas through corridors or checkerboard grids and reintroducing and/or protecting top predators and keystone species.
Fraser’s book is an excellent introducing to this method of conservation biology. Starting with a description of the Yukon to Yellowstone initiative, she traveled the world in search of rewilding projects.
A wildlife crossing structure on the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park, Canada. Wildlife-friendly overpasses and underpasses have helped restore connectivity in the landscape for wolves, bears, elk, and other species. Image from Wikipedia.
Some are working and some are not, ofter due to politics and too much burocracy. These are all exciting projects but the one that most intrigues me is the European Green Belt which is being built along the former Iron Curtain.
European Green Belt. Photo by Klaus Leidorf.
Interestingly the projects that seem to be progressing and expanding are those that stretch across boundaries and borders.
Because this book was due back at the library I had to rush through the last half of it. I intend to search for a used copy to add to my personal library, reading about all the attempts to bring things back into balance definitely lifted my spirits.
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I hadn’t heard of the green belt along the old Iron Curtain…what a cool idea.
I LOVE that cover. Makes me want to pick up the book and read away. Thanks for the review, I’d never heard of this one.
This book sounds right up my alley. I’ve read a couple of books that talk about the importance of wilderness in the environment. One was the short Bill McKibben book called Wandering Home, which uses his walking journey through the Champlain valley and upstate New York as a frame for the discussion of a variety of environmental topics, chiefly the importance of wilderness.
Also in a book I read this year – Swampwalker’s Journal by David Carroll, he talked about how corridors are important for wetland life, which travel a surprising distance through the seasons. If the creatures are cut off from the natural resources they need in their seasonal cycle, it can be disastrous for them.
I love the photos of the conservation corridors that you’ve shown.
Ooh, this sounds like a good read! My interest in rewilding was piqued after reading the end of Dan Simmons’ Black Hills.