Whilst the vast forests of Swedish Lapland might look like a wilderness from the air, get in and amongst the trees and they're anything but. Forestry plantations dominate the map, where trees are planted in dense rows and light on the forest floor is a rare sight.
The rivers didn't escape the booming timber industry either, historically engineered beyond recognition to float logs downstream to awaiting sawmills. Boulders were ripped from the riverbeds, woody debris was removed and flooring was brought in to simplify the route as much as possible.
The team at Rewilding Sweden is now busy restoring these ecosystems, where the forest and rivers are treated not as separate entities, but entwined waterscapes.
Swedish Lapland is one of ten inspirational rewilding landscapes, brought together by Rewilding Europe to drive forwards the large scale recovery of nature across the continent.
--------
43:52
#17 Oder Delta - Poland 🇵🇱 & Germany 🇩🇪
The Oder Delta is an important river catchment in the borderlands of Poland and Germany. Here, intricate waterways meander through hay meadows, alluvial forest, marshlands and lagoon, before heading out to the Baltic Sea.
This landscape feels rich in life, but it could still be so much more. Pollution events have killed off huge quantities of fish and many of the waterways have been manipulated for milling, agriculture, hydro schemes and transport.
Rewilding work is now focused on returning the rivers to a more natural state, and with it, the diverse bounty of life that rely on them.
--------
49:16
#16 Saving Wildcats - Scotland 🏴
For the past few decades, Scotland's wildcat population has been clinging on by a claw. Through historic persecution, habitat loss and more recently, issues with hybridisation with feral and domestic cats, their numbers here have dwindled to practically nothing.
Saving Wildcats is the first dedicated conservation breeding for release project for the species, and the team here are hard at work to restore this iconic mesopredator back to the wild.
--------
46:01
#15 Rhodope Mountains - Bulgaria 🇧🇬
The Rhodope Mountains in southeastern Europe bridge the continents of Europe and Asia. This geographical crossroads makes it an area of high biodiversity, but over time the region has lost many of its key species due to poaching, habitat loss and persecution.
Its position also means it's at the sharp end of climate change on the continent. Warming temperatures make wildfires and new diseases from the south an ever-increasing risk.
The rewilding team here are fully focused on improving the circle of life. A suite of large herbivores are being reintroduced to maintain the mosaic, semi-open landscape, whilst providing sustenance for predators and scavengers alike. Vultures are a key component of the Eastern Rhodopes, and their restoration will help limit the spread of disease and recycle nutrients through the landscape.
--------
46:28
#14 Danube Delta - Ukraine 🇺🇦 & Romania 🇷🇴
The Danube Delta is a complex network of river channels, wetlands, marshes, inter-channel islands and riparian forests. No matter the season, the region hums, thrums and squawks with life. Here, restoration works are focused on reversing years of drainage by agriculture and reconnecting the natural flow of water across the landscape.
Further inland, at the Tarutino Steppe, the team are also busy regenerating large swathes of semi-dry grasslands, by reintroducing an army of grazing animals, both big and small, to reignite natural processes.
The work here is ambitious on any level, but to keep such focus on the restoration of nature, whilst a large-scale invasion of your country is happening, is a testament to the resolve and resilience of the people here, and also the hope that rewilding brings.
Join James Shooter, host of The Rewild Podcast, as he travels across Europe discovering inspiring stories of rewilding across the continent. Produced in collaboration with Rewilding Europe.
Netherlands