Rewilding the West
Rewilding the West

Author: Richard Manning

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2009-06-15

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9780520943179

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"The most destructive force in the American West is its commanding views, because they foster the illusion that we command," begins Richard Manning's vivid, anecdotally driven account of the American plains from native occupation through the unraveling of the American enterprise to today. As he tells the story of this once rich, now mostly empty landscape, Manning also describes a grand vision for ecological restoration, currently being set in motion, that would establish a prairie preserve larger than Yellowstone National Park, flush with wild bison, elk, bears, and wolves. Taking us to an isolated stretch of central Montana along the upper Missouri River, Manning peels back the layers of history and discovers how key elements of the American story—conservation, the New Deal, progressivism, the yeoman myth, and the idea of private property—have collided with and shaped this incomparable landscape. An account of great loss, Rewilding the West also holds out the promise of resurrection—but rather than remake the plains once again, Manning proposes that we now find the wisdom to let the prairies remake us.

Stepping Off
Stepping Off

Author: Thomas M Wilson

Publisher: Fremantle Press

Published: 2017-02-01

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1925164357

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Stepping Off is a book for locals and travellers alike. It is the story of the south-western corner of Western Australia: an environmental history, a social history, an invitation to reconnect with the land – and in doing so, to reconnect with ourselves.

Rewild Or Die
Rewild Or Die

Author: Urban Scout

Publisher:

Published: 2016-09-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781621069720

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Rewild or Die is a collection of essays written by Urban Scout exploring the philosophy of the emerging rewilding renaissance, in which civilized humans are thought to be "domesticated" through thousands of years of sedentary, agrarian life. This way of life is believed to be the root of all environmental destruction and social injustice. Rewilding is the process of un-doing this domestication, and restoring healthy, biologically diverse communities. Using thoughtful, humorously cynical and at times angry prose, Urban Scout explores how the ideology of civilization clashes with the wild and wild peoples, and how thinking, feeling and most importantly living wild is the only way to reach true sustainability.

Re-Bisoning the West
Re-Bisoning the West

Author: Kurt Repanshek

Publisher: Torrey House Press

Published: 2019-09-24

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 1948814005

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"A much–needed look at the exceptionally fraught relationship between bison and people…engaging and comprehensive." —BOOKLIST "A fascinating perspective…Re–Bisoning the West demonstrates the complex relationships the species maintains with the earth and humanity itself." —FOREWORD REVIEWS Award–winning journalist Kurt Repanshek traces the history of bison from the species' near extinction to present–day efforts to bring bison back to the landscape—and the biological, political, and cultural hurdles confronting these efforts. Repanshek explores Native Americans' relationships with bison, and presents a forward–thinking approach to returning bison to the West and improving the health of ecosystems.

Rewilding North America
Rewilding North America

Author: Dave Foreman

Publisher:

Published: 2004-07

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13:

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In Rewilding North America, Dave Foreman takes on arguably the biggest ecological threat of our time: the global extinction crisis. He not only explains the problem in clear and powerful terms, but also offers a bold, hopeful, scientifically credible, and practically achievable solution. Foreman begins by setting out the specific evidence that a mass extinction is happening and analyzes how humans are causing it. Adapting Aldo Leopold's idea of ecological wounds, he details human impacts on species survival in seven categories, including direct killing, habitat loss and fragmentation, exotic species, and climate change. Foreman describes recent discoveries in conservation biology that call for wildlands networks instead of isolated protected areas, and, reviewing the history of protected areas, shows how wildlands networks are a logical next step for the conservation movement. The final section describes specific approaches for designing such networks (based on the work of the Wildlands Project, an organization Foreman helped to found) and offers concrete and workable reforms for establishing them. The author closes with an inspiring and empowering call to action for scientists and activists alike. Rewilding North America offers both a vision and a strategy for reconnecting, restoring, and rewilding the North American continent, and is an essential guidebook for anyone concerned with the future of life on earth.

Feral
Feral

Author: George Monbiot

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2014-09-26

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 022620555X

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As an investigative journalist, Monbiot found a mission in his ecological boredom, that of learning what it might take to impose a greater state of harmony between himself and nature. He was not one to romanticize undisturbed, primal landscapes, but rather in his attempts to satisfy his cravings for a richer, more authentic life, he came stumbled into the world of restoration and rewilding. When these concepts were first introduced in 2011, very recently, they focused on releasing captive animals into the wild. Soon the definition expanded to describe the reintroduction of animal and plant species to habitats from which they had been excised. Some people began using it to mean the rehabilitation not just of particular species, but of entire ecosystems: a restoration of wilderness. Rewilding recognizes that nature consists not just of a collection of species but also of their ever-shifting relationships with each other and with the physical environment. Ecologists have shown how the dynamics within communities are affected by even the seemingly minor changes in species assemblages. Predators and large herbivores have transformed entire landscapes, from the nature of the soil to the flow of rivers, the chemistry of the oceans, and the composition of the atmosphere. The complexity of earth systems is seemingly boundless."

This Land
This Land

Author: Christopher Ketcham

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0735220980

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"The public lands of the western United States comprise some 450 million acres of grassland, steppe land, canyons, forests, and mountains. It's an American commons, and it is under assault as never before. Journalist Christopher Ketcham has been documenting the confluence of commercial exploitation and governmental misconduct in this region for over a decade. His revelatory book takes the reader on a journey across these last wild places, to see how capitalism is killing our great commons. Ketcham begins in Utah, revealing the environmental destruction caused by unregulated public lands livestock grazing, and exposing rampant malfeasance in the federal land management agencies, who have been compromised by the profit-driven livestock and energy interests they are supposed to regulate. He then turns to the broad effects of those corrupt politics on wildlife. He tracks the Department of Interior's failure to implement and enforce the Endangered Species Act--including its stark betrayal of protections for the grizzly bear and the sage grouse--and investigates the destructive behavior of U.S. Wildlife Services in their shocking mass slaughter of animals that threaten the livestock industry. Along the way, Ketcham talks with ecologists, biologists, botanists, former government employees, whistleblowers, grassroots environmentalists and other citizens who are fighting to protect the public domain for future generations. This Land is a colorful muckraking journey--part Edward Abbey, part Upton Sinclair--exposing the rot in American politics that is rapidly leading to the sell-out of our national heritage"--

Wilding
Wilding

Author: Isabella Tree

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Published: 2018-05-03

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 1509805117

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‘A poignant, practical and moving story of how to fix our broken land, this should be conservation's salvation; this should be its future; this is a new hope’ – Chris Packham In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the ‘Knepp experiment’, a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope. Winner of the Richard Jefferies Society and White Horse Book Shop Literary Prize. Forced to accept that intensive farming on the heavy clay of their land at Knepp was economically unsustainable, Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell made a spectacular leap of faith: they decided to step back and let nature take over. Thanks to the introduction of free-roaming cattle, ponies, pigs and deer – proxies of the large animals that once roamed Britain – the 3,500 acre project has seen extraordinary increases in wildlife numbers and diversity in little over a decade. Extremely rare species, including turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons, lesser spotted woodpeckers and purple emperor butterflies, are now breeding at Knepp, and populations of other species are rocketing. The Burrells’ degraded agricultural land has become a functioning ecosystem again, heaving with life – all by itself. Personal and inspirational, Wilding is an astonishing account of the beauty and strength of nature, when it is given as much freedom as possible. Highly Commended by the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize.

Rewilding Agricultural Landscapes
Rewilding Agricultural Landscapes

Author: H. Scott Butterfield

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2021-04-08

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1642831263

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As the world population grows, so does the demand for food, putting unprecedented pressure on agricultural lands. In many desert dryland regions, however, intensive cultivation is causing their productivity to decline precipitously. "Rewilding" the least productive of these landscapes offers a sensible way to reverse the damage, recover natural diversity, and ensure long-term sustainability of remaining farms and the communities they support. This accessibly written, groundbreaking contributed volume is the first to examine in detail what it would take to retire eligible farmland and restore functioning natural ecosystems. The lessons in Rewilding Agricultural Landscapes will be useful to conservation leaders, policymakers, groundwater agencies, and water managers looking for inspiration and practical advice for solving the complicated issues of agricultural sustainability and water management.

Rewilding European Landscapes
Rewilding European Landscapes

Author: Henrique M. Pereira

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-05-04

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 3319120395

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Some European lands have been progressively alleviated of human pressures, particularly traditional agriculture in remote areas. This book proposes that this land abandonment can be seen as an opportunity to restore natural ecosystems via rewilding. We define rewilding as the passive management of ecological successions having in mind the long-term goal of restoring natural ecosystem processes. The book aims at introducing the concept of rewilding to scientists, students and practitioners. The first part presents the theory of rewilding in the European context. The second part of the book directly addresses the link between rewilding, biodiversity, and habitats. The third and last part is dedicated to practical aspects of the implementation of rewilding as a land management option. We believe that this book will both set the basis for future research on rewilding and help practitioners think about how rewilding can take place in areas under their management.