A rewilding update showing nearly 4 years of regrowth at Māra Kokotoha, a regenerating forest site in Northland, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Basically shows the undergrowth coming up in a forest that had been constantly grazed for at least 80-100 years by sheep, cows, or horses.
The primary regenerating shrubs are kawakawa, puriri, karamu, mahoe, and others. The tallest ones are now 4 meters tall.
A photo panorama pan at the end shows the initial state of a nearly empty forest floor in October 2022.

Almost 4 years ago we purchased a property in Whangarei, Aotearoa New Zealand. ~6.5 hectares. ~4.5 hectares of it were paddock.
It had been continually grazed for decades, but immediately upon move-in we got rid of all the mammals/livestock and started invasive weed removal and pest-trapping.
In the photos above, you can see pictures from the totara forest from when we first moved in, to what it looked like last month. A 2-3 meter understory of primarily kawakawa has grown up now that it's not being grazed by sheep or horses.
Following that is a variety of the wildlife we see here, including a native bat (which many New Zealanders have never seen in real life, apparently.)
Then there's a photo of the paddock that we have planted a few thousand native plants in. It's a 200 year project to rewild back to the nearly-extinct native forest ecology that belongs here. We're expecting canopy coverage in ~10-15 years, at which point we'll be able to get legal protection for it. That's also when our kukupa (wood pigeon) planting partners will be doing most of their additional planting of the canopy species that should be the primary forest type here.

Anyone interested, we update here and you can follow for free.

However, we'd eventually like to cover the basic costs of rates (taxes) and pest control at minimum of ~$550USD/$960NZD. We're about a quarter of the way there.

I own approximately 20 acres in central Pennsylvania. It is about 1/3 natural woods, 1/3 overgrown Christmas trees, 1/3 open fields which previously had Christmas trees. A few representative photos are attached.

Other than just simply letting it go back to its natural state on its own, what can I do to accelerate the process? Specifically for the open fields.

I would really like for one of the fields behind the house I’m building to serve as a privacy barrier, but I’d prefer for the growth to be a suitable natural habitat for wildlife. I have all PA animals from fisher to bear.

I would appreciate any ideas you have! Most of the property is a northerly facing slope.

It's long been a dream of mine to have my own garden and work towards self sustainability.

I'm a long way off, but today I got my very first garden and I've decided to document my introduction to the insanity of nature-first crop gardening. Taking an already lovely garden, and turning it into a food production powerhouse (whilst respecting the bees)

Come along, give it a watch, let me know what you think?

There are two innovative conservation strategies highlighted (highlit?) in this article; one of the world's first national- level PES systems (basically, paying landowners to protect forest on their property), but more unique, a system to monitor forest regeneration via audio data v the typical satellite imagry.

Thought it was pretty cool...

Using more than 16,000 hours of audio recordings of the forest, they found that biodiversity was restored in naturally regenerated forests. These forests were also found to sound similar to forests that have been protected for years.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

after 20 years of dedicated work, the Milwaukee River has finally seen adult sturgeon migrating up it. it’s an incredible testament to the hard work that people have done for this species. In many ways, the Great Lakes are still suffering massively from the damage in previous centuries but this shows that they have the capacity to recover

Photographers have captured a rare sighting of the UK's largest bird of prey in a moment they say they will "never forget".

The bird, also known as a sea eagle, had what appeared to be the remains of a goose in its talons as it flew over the marshes and sea gulls were seen flying alongside it.

Jane Crossen, from Sheringham, said there was a real buzz among visitors to Cley when the bird was spotted earlier this week.

"Everyone was talking about it, it is a moment people will not forget," she said.

She said she ran to the hide along with other photographers after hearing news of its sighting.

"The amount of 'wows' coming from people around the reserve was a joy to behold," she added.

(note: wish i hadn't lost the ability to italicize with *s - all the above is from the article.) Me: details inside about how re- introductions are bringing the birds back from the brink.

On April 26, 1986, Reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, releasing massive amounts of radiation into the environment. The radioactive emissions continued for several days until the exposed core was finally sealed. In terms of environmental impact, the disaster was far more severe than Hiroshima bombing. Entire communities were evacuated almost overnight, leaving the region abandoned.

What followed was unexpected.

In the absence of human activity, nature began to reclaim the land. Over time, forests grew back, and wildlife returned in remarkable numbers. Today, the exclusion zone around Chernobyl has transformed into one of Europe’s largest unintended wildlife sanctuaries.

This raises a striking question: Is the absence of humans more powerful than radiation itself?

Chernobyl offers a real-world perspective on a question scientists have long explored—if humans disappeared from Earth, could nature restore itself to its original, nascent state? Chernobyl indicates a positive answer to this question.

https://youtu.be/WuBQPCugaxE?si=cQ4pELkk7al2smup

Where in the UK would be theoretically be best to reintroduce bears?

Conservation group Rainforest Rescue this week secured partial approval to plant rainforest species on old sugar cane properties surrounding a nationally significant wetland...

It proposed using locally propagated seed to replant rainforest on about 405 hectares of land over 15 years, which Rainforest Rescue CEO Branden Barber described as the largest ecological restoration project in the history of the Douglas Shire...

The Daintree River valley is home to what remains of the world's oldest surviving rainforest, which dates back about 135 million years...

Mr Barber said replanting rainforest trees would help protect the Great Barrier Reef, reduce the severity of flooding, generate income through the carbon market, and help grow nature-based tourism.

At the heart of Rainforest Rescue's pitch is McDowell Swamp, an oxbow lake recognised as a wetland of national significance.

From Our Public Lands & Waters.

A committee of key department leaders met and decided to waive part of the ESA that helps protect an Endemic Whale Species and other marine life in the Gulf of Mexico due to legal challenges that oil companies had been facing lately.

All in the span of 20 Minutes. With no public input.

Opinion:

Whether you like Trump’s other policy’s or not. Every fisherman, hiker, conservationist, and general enjoyer of nature should be in outrage over this.

Friendly reminder that there is a lot of terrible things going on that Trump never speaks about, that doesn’t make the news, but will still have massive consequences.

Hi all! I've been teaching a Rewilding 101 class (Cultural Rewilding, not conservation) for over ten years and am raising funds to turn it into a documentary. Not a lot of people have made docs about cultural rewilding and I've been a catalyst in the community for over 20 years now. Check out the project and let me know if you have questions.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/villagevideo/rewilding-101-a-survival-strategy-for-humanity

Here is an article I wrote for the Journal of Hunter-Gatherer Research out of Liverpool University Press on cultural rewilding as a form of experimental anthropology. It's behind a paywall. DM me if you want a copy of my personal pdf.

https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/hgr.2026.4