The following articles will give you a well rounded overview to what is meant by reforestation.

We have a range of reforestation projects that include the restoration of illegal clear cuts, areas destroyed by wildfires & former agriculture lands devoid of biodiversity.

Reforestation Projects

The following articles will give you a well rounded overview to what is meant by rewilding.

All of our rewilding projects have as their main aim to maximise the restoration of wilderness and the promotion of biodiversity.

Rewilding Projects

Restore wildlife habitats and support biodiversity.

In October 2019, we launched our reforesting Scotland project to restore the Caledonian forest in the Scottish Highlands. So far we’ve planted 12,000 native trees at Alladale Wilderness Reserve.

The reforesting Scotland project aims to restore and diversify the native pinewood habitat. Scots pine and downy birch saplings are being planted in open areas while less common food-producing broadleaf species are being planted in existing planting schemes to enrich and diversify the growing woodland. River banks are being planted with species such as alder and bird cherry to help stabilise the river bank and create vital riparian woodland habitat.

To compliment the reforestation activities, we have developed the following rewilding interventions for the area: monitoring of Atlantic salmon and construction of eagle nest platforms.

Pine sapling.jpg

We plant Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), downy birch (Betula pubescens), juniper (Juniperus communis), hazel (Corylus avellana), holly (Ilex aquifolium), European crab apple (Malus sylvestris), common hawthorn (Cratageus monogyna), alder (Alnus glutinosa), bird cherry (Prunus padus), Elder (Sambucus nigra) and Wych elm (Ulmus glabra).

Twinflower (Linnea borealis), black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), Scottish crossbill (Loxia scotica), pine marten (Martes martes) and Atlantic salmon (Salmon salar) are all present in the area.

Historically, much of the Scottish Highlands were covered in a forest of majestic Scots pine and colourful broadleaf trees, home to a diversity of plants and animals. Today, the landscape is largely devoid of these unique woodlands and many of the species that once thrived here have been lost. Our aim is to undo some of this damage and restore the empty glens and rewild the Scottish Highlands to rich, biodiverse, wild woodlands.  

The Scottish pinewoods are a globally unique habitat due to the absence of any other conifer tree, other than Scots pine, within the woodland. These woodlands support some of the UK’s rarest plant and animal species like the beautiful and delicate twinflower, the elusive wildcat and the impressive capercaillie. Restoring native woodlands in all their beautiful complexity will help return Scotland to wilder, richer state that a variety of species, including humans, can enjoy.

At the end of the last Ice Age, much of the Scottish Highlands were covered in woodland, mainly composed of Scots pine and birch. Around 4,000 years ago, the climate began to change. The natural tree line lowered, peat bogs expanded and woodland cover began to decline.

At around the same time, humans began to significantly change the landscape around them. Trees were felled to make room for crops and graze livestock, to harvest timber and fuelwood. By the 1700s, the great Caledonian Forest was reduced to small, isolated pockets of the Highlands. Much of the wildlife that thrived here, like lynx, bears and wolves, were lost.

In the 18th and 19th century, when much of the landscape had already been cleared of forests, estate owners began to clear the land of people. Known as the Highland Clearances, local people were forcibly evicted from their homes, entire villages were cleared, to make way for sheep grazing. Today, a combination of sheep farming, unsustainable numbers of deer and intensive land management for sporting purposes is restricting the ability of native woodlands to regenerate on their own. Reforestation with native species is therefore vital to restore this unique habitat.

In 2019, we launched our reforesting Scotland project to restore the Caledonian forest in the Scottish Highlands.

Reforesting Scotland

It brings us great joy to communicate the impact of this rewilding project. At the centre of its purpose is a small mammal adored across the UK – the water vole. Once found in abundance in our rivers, this loveable riverside dweller has sadly lost a big part of its population. Read on to find out the causes of its decline, why water voles are so important to their ecosystem, and how we helped in the effort to restore their numbers.

Despite its small size, the water vole (Arvicola amphibius) has a large role to play in shaping its ecosystems. As small as a rat but more similar in looks to a beaver, water voles are important ecosystem engineers, creating complex riparian habitats through their burrowing and feeding behaviour to support a host of other plant and animals. 

Unfortunately, the water vole is one of the UK’s fastest declining mammals. In the 1990’s, the population crashed by 90% and many populations disappeared altogether. Ambitious reintroductions projects have since been established to restore water voles to areas where they are missing, and we’re excited to be supporting this important work. 

Kielder, in the north of England, was once home to a thriving population of water voles before the population went locally extinct in the 1980s. Thanks to the hard work of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Forestry England the Tyne Rivers Trust, water voles have been returned to the area once again after an absence of around 30 years. 

Over 1,500 water voles have been bred in captivity at a specialist facility in Devon and released into Kielder as part of the Restoring Ratty project. In June 2021, we supported their work to release a further 177 water voles, providing funding to help transport voles from the breeding centre to the release site. 

Learn more about why we have helped water vole reintroductions

One of Britain’s most threatened mammals 

The water vole is thought to have disappeared from 94% of its former range in the UK. 

Habitat loss and inappropriate wetland management as a result of agricultural intensification has played a significant role in the decline of the water vole. But it was the introduction of the North American mink (Neovison vison) that really pushed water voles to the brink. 

American mink became established in the UK after escaping and being deliberately released from fur farms. They have since wiped out entire populations of water voles across the UK. The reason water voles are so vulnerable to predation by this new predator is because they have no natural defences to protect themselves. The water vole’s usual tactic to escape predation is to dive underwater and kick up a ‘smoke screen’ of dirt, but mink are strong swimmers and can smell underwater, making this strategy ineffective. 

Another tactic is to run into their burrows but female and juvenile mink are small enough to fit. In winter, when adult water voles and their offspring take shelter in their burrows, a mink can wipe out the entire population. 

A keystone species - positively impacting others

Water vole conservation is important for the continued survival of the species in the UK. It is also important because water voles play an important role in the wider ecosystem. As a keystone species, water voles create the conditions for other animals to thrive. They increase habitat complexity and plant community diversity through their burrowing and grazing behaviour. Their decline therefore, has the potential to reduce habitat complexity and plant diversity in riparian areas. They are also an important prey species for a number of Britain’s most charismatic predators, including otters, marsh harries and golden eagles. 

The public has been drawn to the battle to save 'ratty' the water vole, a character in the classic novel Wind in the Willows. We hope that being part of the collective effort to win this battle will spark more imagination - to see this animal settle safely in our waterways once more.

To learn about more rewilding interventions around Britain, browse through our other rewilding projects.  If you want to explore articles written about a range of rewilding topics, head over to our rewilding blog.

Supporting Water Vole Translocation led by the Northumberland Wildlife Trust

Water voles were once plentiful in UK waters, but are now battling to survive. Mossy Earth's contributing to reintroductions through this translocation project.

Translocating water voles to help reestablish a beloved British mammal

Assisting in the effort to restore one of Britain's beloved mammals.

Seaweeds are of immense value for marine ecosystems. Kelp, the largest of them all, form spectacular underwater forests that provide habitat for fish, clean the water and sequester carbon. Unfortunately, large swaths of these subaquatic forests have disappeared from the coast of many European countries. Although many factors appear to be contributing to this trend, there is still a lot we don’t know about the ecosystems engineered by seaweeds and this makes it difficult to carry out effective conservation and restoration work. We have partnered with SeaForester to make large scale restoration of seaweed forests along the coast of Portugal a reality. To start the process we are implementing a kelp restoration trial.

Kelp are large brown seaweeds belonging to the order Laminariales and are widely known for the impressive subaquatic forests that they form. In order to bring back these kelp forests to the areas from which they have disappeared it is important to test and refine available techniques. 

This project involves carrying out a trial to test the “spore bag” seeding technique to bring back golden kelp (Laminaria ochroleuca) to the coast of Cascais, Portugal where it used to be very abundant. Reproductive structures of the plant are collected from donor populations, placed in mesh bags and attached to the rocky reef identified for restoration. The idea is for the spores to be released from the reproductive structures, to settle on the underlying bedrock and create new patches of kelp forest.

Learn more about the context behind this project

The world’s shallow coastal areas, where sunlight penetrates, are the cradles of the ocean. Here seaweed forests grow supporting a rich and diverse assemblage of marine fauna and flora by providing highly productive three-dimensional habitats. In addition to reducing the loss of biodiversity in oceans, kelp forests also provide ecosystem services by reversing acidification, an important part of climate change mitigation.   

Unfortunately, European seaweed forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Although we lack the data to figure out the actual causes for this decline, these are likely to be important drivers in many areas:

Climate change affecting water temperatures

A build up of sediment as a result of both human and natural causes 

Increases in herbivory rates due to overfishing and its impact on coastal ecological communities

Unlike land-based deforestation which has received a lot of attention, the loss of marine forests tends to go mostly unnoticed. This may be due to the fact that the underwater-world is out of sight for most of us and its deterioration is therefore not as obvious. As result, there are still very few seaweed restoration projects in Europe and there is a great need to develop greater know-how in this area. This is where our partnership with SeaForester comes in to restore these 'forgotten forests'.

SeaForester is an initiative that aims to reverse the alarming disappearance of seaweed forests in the world in order to safeguard the oceans’ vital role of carbon sequestration, maintaining fish stocks and securing the planet’s wellbeing. Along the coastline of the municipality of Cascais they are pioneering the work to identify the reasons for the decline in seaweed populations and to test seeding techniques. Therefore this project will not be carried out in isolation but will be integrated with other efforts to restore the area with community involvement from Club Naval de Cascais (CNC).

Thanks to our members we are able to get this initial research project off the ground, where previously there's been difficulty securing funding. With this support, action-based research like this can snowball into large-scale restoration of kelp forests - our ultimate aim. 

Pioneering seaweed restoration work in Europe

Bringing back the Lost Kelp Forests of Europe - Project Vlog

Kelp restoration trial is a rewilding project designed to test the spore bag technique to bring back kelp to areas from which it has disappeared. 

Kelp Restoration Trial

On the central California coastline in the ecologically precious estuary and salt marshes of Elknorn Slough resides an ‘Ecosystem Superhero’ who needs our help. The Southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis), aka the California sea otter, is a subspecies of otter currently vulnerable to human disturbances. Without intervention not only will this wonderfully unique species be in danger, but we also risk losing their vital services in maintaining ecological balance. Inaction could drastically alter biodiversity in the region. 

This project has been co-funded by our members and Not Just Tavel's Climate Heroes programme.

Following the fur trade, sea otters are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List and the southern sea otter subspecies is listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, having undergone rapid population decline in the early 1900s. Today, the Southern sea otter faces daily threats from sharks, toxins, diseases, and human disturbances. 

To combat the impacts of human disturbance, this project assesses the impact of increasing marine recreation users to sea otters living in Elkhorn Slough, an estuary just north of Monterey Bay. The data gathered will then be used to inform future management decisions and ensure that otters can safely inhabit the slough. 

Elkhorn Slough is a region along the Central Coast of California that is home to a recovering population of Southern sea otters. The slough also hosts human visitors wishing to kayak, stand-up paddleboard, scuba dive, and participate in other marine recreation activities. As a result of the initial COVID-19 lockdown, marine recreation increased significantly at the start of last year. On the one hand, whilst it’s encouraging to know more people want to engage in nature, many first-time visitors are unaware of specific protocols used to reduce their impact on the surrounding wildlife. Consequently, there is a clear need to understand impacts and take action before irreversible damage is done. Wildlife disturbance is a huge concern of major conservation agencies, yet data correlating increased human disturbances to harmful impacts on wildlife is very rare to come by. 

Sea Otter Savvy is an on-the-ground organization on the Central California coast dedicated to fostering awareness and stewardship of this issue amongst the coastal community. The impact of the pandemic on its funding has meant this organization urgently needs support. Therefore, at Mossy Earth, we are supporting them in monitoring, measuring, and assessing the impact of the increased marine recreation on sea otters in the slough. Our members will cover the purchase of a camera trap to monitor visitor numbers and a stipend for a local university student to analyze the data. These data will be used by Sea Otter Savvy to inform stakeholders of best practices for mitigating the effects of crowds to the sea otters and other surrounding wildlife. 

Learn more about why we are restoring sea otter populations

As Sea Otter Savvy puts it, sea otters are “ecosystem superheroes.” These furry friends play a critical role in their marine ecosystems as a predator keystone species. This is an ecological term given to species who have a profound impact on their ecosystem by keeping its prey in check, without them trophic cascades can be destabilized and ecosystems suffer. Kelp forests and seagrass beds, maintained by healthy sea otter populations, provide a home for hundreds of fish species, nursery habitats for invertebrate species, and carbon storage that can combat climate change. 

When sea otters are removed from a kelp ecosystem

Sea otters are a species that many other creatures in the ecosystem depend on, and their disappearance would have drastic consequences. Marine invertebrates can swarm a habitat and cause imbalance. Sea urchins are one such invertebrate who feed on kelp, without predators controlling their numbers, they can decimate kelp forests.  Another is crab, who feed on sea slugs – a species that graze on eelgrass and keep its blades free of algae and hence, healthy. By consuming large amounts of these invertebrates, sea otters control their populations and protect these important ecosystems.

Sea otters may be fierce predators but they have a number of physiological characteristics that make them particularly vulnerable to disturbance.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the booming fur trade took a serious toll on sea otter populations, as they were hunted to near extinction. Once residing continuously along the North Pacific Rim, southern sea otters have now reclaimed only about 13% of their historic range. These extant sea otter populations demonstrate low levels of genetic diversity, resulting in relatively weak populations. On top of this, sea otters have unique physiological characteristics that make them particularly sensitive to disturbances. For instance, sea otters spend much of their time resting to conserve energy to forage, and even small disturbances can severely disrupt this critical resting period. This is especially the case for sea otter mothers who need up to double the energy to provide for their young so swimming away from approaching humans exerts extra precious energy. Sea otters also lack the layer of blubber that many marine mammals possess, leaving them with little ability to store their precious energy as fat.  Understanding the threats that various human disturbances pose to these incredible creatures, then, is tremendously important to ensure that current and future populations can survive and thrive. 

If you are keen to find out more about marine rewilding or rewilding in general, head over to our kelp restoration trial project page and rewilding blog.

Sea Urchins Are Taking Over the Ocean Floor: Here is Why

California's sea otters are vital to kelp forests and seagrass beds ecosystems. This project aims to address a recent threat to their population.

Restoring California’s Sea Otter Populations

Researching the impacts of human disturbance

Ireland was once the most forested country in Europe. Today it has just 11% tree cover, only 2% of which is native forest. Working with our tree planting partners Hometree our Reforesting Ireland project seeks to reforest and rewild a 60 hectare property in an area that currently has no wild forests.

Tree planter.jpeg

At our Reforesting Ireland project we plant Scarlett willow (Salix alba), goat willow (Salix caprea), grey willow (Salix cinerea), osier willow (Salix viminalis), alder (Alnus glutinosa), downy birch (Betula pubescens), European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), common hawthorn (Cratageus monogyna), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), holly (Ilex aquifolium), blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), common oak (Quercus robur) and sessile oak (Quercus petraea).

Hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), pine marten (Martes martes), brown hare (Lepus europaeus) are all present in the area. To learn more about these species, head over to our wildlife in Ireland or rewilding Ireland guides. 

The Irish, descendants of the Gaels, which means forest people, have worshipped trees longer than they’ve believed in God.

Centuries of deforestation for agriculture and timber have reduced Ireland’s once extensive native woodlands to small, isolated remnants. Old native woodlands can still to be found in areas of thin soils unsuitable for agriculture, but today, the country is known for its landscape of open, green pastures instead.  

Legend has it that a squirrel could traverse through the tree canopy from the North of Ireland to the far South without ever touching the forest floor.

Sadly, it was these rich woodlands, particularly the robust oaks that were prized by England for the construction of its cathedrals, the reconstruction of London after the Great Fire and its naval fleets between 1600s – 1800s. Large areas of old growth forests were decimated by the English and never replaced.

Ireland's native woodlands are mostly made up of colourful broadleaf trees like oak, ash, alder and birch. A healthy, thriving forest provides vital habitat for a diversity of flora and fauna, including great spotted woodpecker, narrow-leaved helleborine, wood millet, red squirrels and Ireland's rarest native mammal, the pine marten.

In response to legal requirements to reduce carbon emissions, the Irish government is primarily funding the planting of non-native conifer monocultures. These monoculture forests cause soil acidification, create excess sediment in rivers, and are often devoid of wildlife. These lucrative plantations also price small farmers off the land.

Ireland was once the most forested country in Europe, now it's the least! Our Foraois Reforesting Ireland project aims to reverse this trend through native tree planting interventions.

Foraois | Reforesting Ireland

Romania's Carpathian Mountains are home to some of Europe’s last remaining truly wild forests and the largest population of bears, wolves and lynx. Sadly, this ecosystem hangs in the balance due to years of illegal logging. Our goal is to restore the barren clear cuts that threaten these forests. In partnership with Foundation Conservation Carpathia we are working to restore clear cuts in the Romania's Southern Carpathian Mountains. 

Brown bear.jpeg

We plant Norway spruce (Picea abies), silver fir (Abies alba), wych elm (Ulmus glabra), rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), European ash (Fraxinus excelsior), Norway maple (Acer platanoides) and European beech (Fagus slyvatica).

Brown bear (Ursus arctos), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), grey wolf (Canis lupus), European bison (Bison bonases) and Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) are all present in the area.

On the ground at our project area in the Southern Carpathians

Reforesting the Southern Carpathians

The Southern Carpathian Mountains in Romania have some of the most intact ecosystems in Europe. These mountains are a treasure of biodiversity and a shared heritage that should remain for future generations to enjoy peacefully.

Old growth forests in Europe have become extremely scarce, the Carpathian Mountains represent the biggest unfragmented area of virgin forests in Europe. The Carpathians are home to the largest populations of large carnivores in Europe including bears, wolves and lynx. The area is home to an extraordinary range of endemic species as well.

Camera trap footage of wildlife in winter in the Southern Carpathians

Winter Camera Traps Souther Carpathians

The communist People’s Republic of Romania formed through Soviet occupation of the country following World War II. During this era, thousands of people suffered under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Romania's wilderness, in comparison, faired quite well. It was seemingly protected from the kind of exploitation experienced throughout other areas of Europe at the time and acted as a refuge for species that were declining across Europe. It is believed Ceaușescu, being a less than capable hunter, is the reason for the comparatively high number of bears in the Carpathian Mountains today. Big game hunting was extremely limited during this time, and permits were granted almost entirely to the Communist Party members. Unable to shoot many bears, his trusted aides also launched a re-population programme so that he had a better chance of killing one, alleviating them from his tempers.

After the collapse of the Romanian economy in the 1980s and the fall of the Communist government, Romania's national forests were restituted to private owners. Newly privatised and communal forests have continued to be clear cut at an alarming rate ever since. At the same time, the democratization of hunting has caused dramatic declines in wildlife populations. Although there is rising awareness about the dramatic situation of some of the last old-growth forest in Europe, reforesting action needs to be taken now, as logging continues to destroy these precious areas.

Our reforesting the Southern Carpathians project seeks to turn the tide on illegal clear cuts by restoring one of the most wild ecosystems in Europe.

Reforesting The Southern Carpathians

Healing clear-cuts in Europe's last remaining wilderness

In April 2020, we launched our project to restore one of the last remnants of Central Europe’s floodplain forests. With our local partner Broz, we are planting trees along the Danube river in Slovakia.

The project aims to restore this unique forest and conserve the diversity of fauna and flora that inhabit the area. By planting open areas with native trees, such as poplars, elms and maples, we are working to increase forest cover and habitat availability for species like the locally endangered black stork, the charismatic beaver and the rare large copper butterfly. Floodplain forests are an important carbon sink and their restoration has the potential to sequester a large amount of carbon and contribute to the fight against the climate crisis.  

Slovakia saplings.jpeg

Silver poplar (Populus alba), black poplar (Populus nigra), European ash (Fraxinus excelsior), narrow-leafed ash (Fraxinus angustifolia), European white elm (Ulmus leavis), field elm (Ulmus minor), common oak (Quercus robur), Norway maple (Acer platanoides).

European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis), black stork (Ciconia nigra), stag beetle (Lucanus cervus), large copper (Lycaena dispar).

One of the most endangered forest habitats in the world, today, only 5-20% of the Danube floodplains are forested. They grow along rivers and streams and are characterised by an intricate dynamic flooding and dry periods, a variety of different water conditions (slow flowing, fast flowing, standing and quick drying water bodies) and high groundwater. These diverse conditions mean the forests can support a diversity of species. They also play an important role in filtering and cleaning water supplies and providing natural protection against floods.

The unique floodplain forests are home to a diversity of mammals, like the Eurasian river otter and beaver. They are also an important habitat for birds, with a high density of species comparable to other forest types. The locally endangered black stork and white-tailed eagle nest on the tall trees while the black woodpecker occupies the natural cavities in the tree trunks. With over 60 fish species, 109 molluscs and thousands of insects species, these forests are teeming with life. Among the busy communities of these forests, you can find the rare stag beetle and beautiful large copper.

Unsustainable forest management has caused the destruction and degradation of huge swathes of the native Danube floodplain forests. Traditional management practices has focused on maximising wood and pulp production, through large scale clear-cuts, the removal of top soil as well as the planting of hybrid poplars and other non-native tree species. A lack of food and shelter in these non-native monocultures means they are unable to support the diversity of species found in native forests. Harvested at an age of 20-40 years, these forests are unable to reach maturity. Old trees in which woodpeckers and other birds could nest are entirely absent, as well as the dead wood that many insects and fungi rely on. The rich native herbs, fungi and trusses of the undergrowth are also unable to re-establish in that time period.

Humans have severely altered the hydrology of the area and caused significant damage as a result. The Danube floodplain habitats rely on healthy rivers and waterbodies as well as periods of flooding and high groundwater levels. However, decades of regulating watercourses, construction of dams and draining of flooded areas, has left these unique floodplain habitats in poor condition and a fraction of the size they once were. With increased temperatures and decreasing rainfall brought on by the current climate crisis, the future of this unique habitat is at even greater risk.

The Danube floodplain forests cover only a fraction of what they did in the past. Our Restoring The Floodplain Forests project seeks to reverse this damage.

Slovakia - Restoring The Floodplain Forests of the Danube

Like many European countries, Spain is undergoing a process of widespread land abandonment. For decades, the landscape in Andalucía has been shaped by grazing by both wild and domestic herbivores. The current trend of abandoning livestock grazing activities and removing livestock from the landscape is having serious consequences for the open and semi-open habitats that many species there thrive on, such as wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa), important prey species for the endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). As open areas become dense with vegetation, they also become more at risk of forest fires. The European bison (Bison bonasus), or wisent, is the largest herbivore in Europe and is considered a keystone species, having a profound impact on the landscape through its grazing and trampling behaviour. Listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN red list, their reintroduction to the Spanish landscape could have profound benefits for restoring these vital habitats and supporting the range expansion of the rare European bison. 

Tracking Europe's most southerly population of Bison

In October and November 2020, 18 bison were reintroduced to the El Encinarejo property by the dedicated owners and bison experts at the European Bison Conservation Centre of Spain. This project is intended to act as example to others in Spain of a more sustainable approach to land management and nature and species conservation. Detailed monitoring of the impacts of the bison on the landscape, habitat use, foraging behaviour and species interactions will be carried out to gather this vital information. By demonstrating how European bison behave in a Spanish ecosystem, with minimal human interference, the project hopes to ultimately inspire and inform further reintroductions on large properties in the Andalucian region and beyond. 

To support the project at El Encinarejo to gather the data they need, Mossy Earth is sponsoring the purchase of a GPS collar and three camera traps. The GPS collar will gather detailed data on their movements across the landscape. The camera traps, placed strategically at important sites, such as wallowing sites, where bison repeatedly roll around for grooming purposes, will provide important behavioural data. 

Learn More About the Context Behind this Project

Similar to the North American bison (or American buffalo), the European bison has suffered a dark history at the hands of humans. After decades of over-hunting and habitat loss, only two populations survived in Europe by the 20th century. One was in the remote Northern Caucasus Mountains of Russia and another was in Poland’s Białowieża Forest, where a herd of around 600 bison remained. The last wild bison were killed during World War I and the Russian revolution, but thankfully a few individuals survived in captivity. Efforts to reintroduce bison back to the wild began in the 1950s in Poland and thanks to further captive breeding and reintroduction efforts, like the one underway at El Encinarejo, there are now around 6,000 wild and semi-wild bison in Europe living in Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, The Netherlands and elsewhere.

Reintroductions are an important mechanism for expanding the range of European bison and safeguarding the long-term survival of the species, but they also have the potential to contribute to the restoration and sustainable management of grassland and semi-open habitats in Europe. Just like the American bison, European bison can help create and maintain grasslands and semi-open forests, supporting a wealth of insects and birds, through their foraging. Other ungulates benefit too, due to the landscape engineering work of the bison. They also disturb and aerate the soil through their wallowing and trampling behaviour and fertilize the land through their dung.

Contributing to the Area’s Ambitious Rewilding Goals

The intervention area encompasses what’s known as a dehesa landscape, a multifunctional agroforestry landscape comprising a mosaic of open grasslands with scattered evergreen trees, including oaks, and areas of more closed canopy. It is home to a number of conservation priority species such as the endangered Iberian Lynx, the vulnerable Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti) and near threatened Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus). The bison monitoring efforts are part of an ambitious landscape-level approach that aims to restore this unique habitat and conserve the rare species that call El Encinarejo home. 

The Reintroduction of European Bison in Spain hopes to drive widespread changes to landscapes abandoned by livestock activities. This rewilding project will monitor bison movements using GPS collars and camera traps.

Monitoring Reintroduced European Bison in Spain

In the summer of 2019, we set out to implement another rewilding project - GPS tagging griffon vultures in the Côa Valley in northern Portugal. Since July 2019 we have been supporting this vulture conservation intervention in collaboration with our partners, Rewilding Portugal, at the location of our Wildfire Restoration project. The detailed behavioural data acquired through this project is already providing answers to questions that before were only a matter of speculation. 

On the ground report: GPS Tagging Griffon Vultures

Learn more about why we are tagging Griffon vultures and vulture conservation.

The scarcity of wild herbivores in western Iberia means that griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) tend to feed on the abandoned carcasses of domesticated animals such as cattle and sheep. This makes them particularly vulnerable to changes in livestock farming practices. In 2001, following the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis (“mad cow disease”), the European union prohibited the abandonment of livestock carcasses in the field to prevent spread of the disease. The reduced food availability contributed to the decline of vulture populations in the area. 

Since then, however, the Iberian population has shown an impressive comeback. In the Côa valley, there were less than 10 breeding pairs during the 1990s and this number rose to 74 by 2015. The comeback to the areas was facilitated by the protection of suitable nesting habitat within the Faia Brava reserve. However, the key driver for the resurgence of griffon vultures throughout the Iberian Peninsula appears to have been a relaxation of the EU policy which once again allowed farmers to leave livestock carcasses in the field. 

Spain reverted it’s legislation before Portugal did. This explains a previous finding that vultures tagged in Spain clearly avoid Portuguese territory. In Portugal, abandoning livestock carcasses in the field became legal again in 2017 but obtaining the required permissions is a highly bureaucratic process which means that few farmers have changed their practices. 

Although the griffon vulture population in the Coa Valley has been monitored in the past, we could only guess where the vultures were foraging and what they were feeding on. This is where our vulture conservation project comes in by sponsoring the GPS devices required to track the movement patterns of griffon vultures.

These solar powered devices transmit precise geographical information without the need to recapture the individuals and have built in accelerometers which provide additional information about the way in which the vulture is moving at a given moment in time. This data can be used to determine when the vulture is resting, flying or foraging.

Moreover, this data can be used to identify the time and location of likely feeding events. By going to the field and looking for signs of feeding (such as carcass remains and vulture feathers), these feeding events can be confirmed and we can obtain information about what the vultures were feeding on, which in turn aids future vulture conservation efforts.

Contributing to the area's ambitious rewilding goals

This work of GPS tagging griffon vultures is part of a larger project that is currently being implemented in the region. The project "Scaling Up Rewilding in the Greater Côa Valley" is being led by Rewilding Europe and focuses on reinforcing a 120,000-hectare wildlife corridor that will improve connectivity in the landscape between the Malcata mountain range and the Douro Valley. This project is financed by the Endangered Landscapes Programme, which is managed by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and funded by Arcadia, a charitable fund of Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing.

Carlos Pacheco, raptor expert at ATNatureza.

GPS tagging the vultures will allow us to see whether the birds are feeding mostly on the carcasses of domestic livestock, or also on wild herbivores, and how often they visit vulture feeding stations, which will ultimately enable us to improve the management of food sources for the birds and support the restoration of trophic chains.

This interactive map was created with the data from 4 of the Griffon vultures tagged in the summer of 2019. You can follow the journey of each individual and see the distance travelled up to that point (by clicking on the bird's icon).

GPS tagging vultures gave us invaluable insight to the birds’ foraging behaviour. The data will support the restoration of food chains & future vulture conservation.

GPS Tagging Griffon Vultures

The fairy cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina has never been explored, but it is not untouched. It lies within one of the world’s cave biodiversity hotspots, likely to provide habitat to unique and mysterious cave-dwelling animals. The aim of this expedition is to be the first explorers to discover what lurks in the depths of this cave, survey its biodiversity and help avert a conceivably dark fate – their extinction. The timing of this expedition is critical, the surrounding karst field has already been damaged by the operation of one of the country’s largest coal-fired power plants. Now, plans to expand the plant could end up drying up these caves or contaminating its waters, potentially causing the eradication of species that nobody has ever known existed. Surveying this special habitat presents an immensely exciting opportunity from a scientific perspective, but the ultimate goal is to use this data to fight for its protection. To achieve this, we are joining forces with the most committed teams in the region who are the main voice pushing for change. 

We Explored Unknown Caves in Bosnia - Here is What We Found!

In June 2021 we set out on an expedition to survey the biodiversity of an unexplored underwater cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The team included expert biospeleologists, cave divers, cave mappers as well as members of the  Croatian Institute for Biodiversity (HIB), local activists from the Center for the Environment (CZZS) and some of us at Mossy Earth. There are two main reasons why we planned this expedition.  The first relates to addressing knowledge gaps about biodiversity. It is very hard to protect species if we don´t even know they exist and to assist the recovery of endangered species if we don't know their distribution. This part of the world is a hotspot for cave biodiversity and so by surveying an unexplored cave here we may find species that are new to science. The second reason was that this site is threatened by plans to expand a nearby coal-fired power plant and relevant data was urgently needed by local activists to inform their campaign to protect this unique habitat. 

The expedition took place over 3 days and can best be described as a frenzy of scientific exploration. We documented the process and some of the preliminary findings in the video above and the team is currently summarising the results into an expedition report. 

This was the first time anyone has ever ventured into this uncharted corner of our planet - a feat which wouldn’t have come about were it not for the funding provided by mossy earth members and the hard work of the cave divers from the HIB and the team from CZZS. Their devotion and passion to preserve a national heritage that remains undiscovered have given us this chance to bring to light what’s been left in the dark. 

The mysteries of cave life and why they matter 

Cave dwelling species show unusually high levels of endemism which means that they tend to be found only within a very small range. Some species exist only in a single cave. In an age when few can truly pioneer exploration of this kind; where we have the sense that no stone has been left unturned on our planet; cave divers continue to discover new species on a regularly basis! This thrilling opportunity is what drives the teams persistently working to safeguard these national treasures. Although this is part of what makes biospeleology so captivating it also creates a problem for conservation. Since there are many unexplored caves, there are several species which have not yet be identified. If these caves were completely isolated from the world aboveground and from the damage we are creating at the surface level, this might not be a huge problem. However, they are actually very sensitive habitats. The artificial manipulation of a water courses or the contamination of inflowing water for example, can destroy cave habitat in an instant and cause the extinction of species that no human being has yet seen. This is what makes this challenge so important to us and although we are fighting against the tide of the pollution crisis, there is real hope we can rescue these precious cave creatures. 

The fairy cave belongs to the Cerničko polje in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Put simply, a Polje or karst field is a large flat area where the flow of water belowground has formed long networks of caves. This epic geological feature is common in the dinaric arc region of South-eastern Europe and is the only home to species that exist nowhere else on earth. In this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at least two threatened species were thought to occur, the olm (Proteus anguinus) and the striped dace (Telestes metohiensis). The olm is a selected species forming part of our ‘Ugly Ones’ programme which celebrates the outcasts of conservation – those who receive little to no attention nor funding, but fully deserving of their right to survive. There is still very little research into the cave biodiversity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and this specific cave had never been explored offering us the chance to uncover new and rare animals on the web of life. 

Much of the karst field surrounding the fairy cave has been damaged by the activities of the nearby Gacko thermal power plant and open-pit lignite mine. Currently, plans are in progress to further expand the activities and this is likely to involve changes to the course of a stream that feeds water into the cave. If not enough is done to prevent this, disastrous effects on life in the cave and stream could occur - it could run dry and all the animals who rely on it to survive would be killed in the process. 

The broader context of Coal in Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Coal has been the main energy source in Bosnia and Herzegovina for several decades. The industry employs many people in rural areas where poverty is still widespread and recovering from the impacts of the Bosnian war has proven difficult. Unfortunately, the mining and burning of coal is harming human health, the local environment and is increasing the country’s carbon footprint. Even now, plans are underway to expand existing power plants and to build new ones and this shows that there is not enough pressure and political will to be swift about the transition to renewable energy. This is one of the core issues that the dedicated team at the CZZS are addressing. Through targeted campaigns and activism, they are raising awareness about this issue, trying to halt the destruction, and speeding up the inevitable energy transition. Their courage and persistence with their cause are admirable. It has gathered support from local citizens who rally behind them in demanding a cleaner environment and more prosperous future.

In this expedition, we are focusing on the conservation of cave biodiversity, but the project also fits into this broader strategy because the data will help to push back against the expansion of a large coal mine and power plant. We are extremely thankful to those who have contributed and joined us on this journey to make sure the unseen in nature, is not forgotten.

If the world of cave biology intrigues you and you haven’t yet read our article about cave dwelling animals you should check it out! 

If you want to learn more about the backstory of why we think it is important to protect bizarre creatures like the olm you can listen to our podcast episode about Mossy Earth’s “Ugly ones” programme.

The "Ugly" ones rewilding programme | Project notes #1

This exploratory expedition into a cave nobody has ever visited in Bosnia and Herzegovina hopes to discover new and exciting cave dwelling species to protect. 

Discovering the secrets of the fairy cave

Revealing and protecting the biodiversity of an unexplored cave 

Discovering the Secrets of the Fairy Cave

Along the shores of Lac Aloatra in Madagascar lives an endemic reed dwelling lemur – the Alaotran gentle lemur (Hapalemur alaotrensis). Locally known as Bandro, the Alaotran gentle lemur is under threat from habitat loss, bushmeat hunting and the pet trade. The most recent figures point to an alarming decline in their numbers over the last five years, with 30% of the wild population being lost. Today, there are only an estimated 5,000 Alaotran gentle lemurs left. So, in February 2020, we joined forces with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust to support their work in restoring the vital wetland habitat that the lemurs depend on and help bring them back from the brink of extinction. This project is funded through our business membership with PCF Bank. 

Invasive aquatic plants, salvinia (Salvinia molesta) and water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes), are currently causing severe problems in Lac Alaotra. They cover approximately 60% of the primary fishing channels and access routes around the lake and marshes. Local fisherpeople are then forced to burn new areas of reedbeds and marshes so that they can access the lake and earn a living. These plants are also reducing water quality and preventing the reedbeds from naturally generating. To improve access for fishing and patrol canoes and improve water quality, we are supporting the clearing of invasive plants along 10km of key fishing and access channels. This will be carried out by the local community members, who will also benefit from the project through the production of organic compost, made from the plant waste. Community patrol teams will then monitor the cleared areas to prevent the invasive plants from returning.    

The Alaotran gentle lemur is endemic to Lac Alaotra. This means it’s found nowhere else in the world. It is also the only primate in the world whose habitat is confined to wetlands. Because of this, it is at extreme risk of global extinction if we do not intervene. It is one of five species of bamboo or gentle lemur but is significantly larger than the others. It uses its grasping hands and feet and long tail to balance when walking along reed stalks in its lakeside habitat and may possibly be able to swim.

Lac Alaotra is Madagascar's most important rice-producing region and inland fishery. Unfortunately, migrating populations who come to Alaotra seeking fertile croplands are burning huge swathes of reed beds to convert to rice-paddies. Years of poor management and traditional monoculture cultivation have gradually reduced annual productivity, creating a vicious cycle in which more land is burnt each year for agriculture. Approximately 2,000 hectares of marshland are burnt each year, with devastating consequences for the lemurs. The quality of the lake and its wetland habitats are also under threat from the deforestation of the surrounding hills, which is causing soil erosion and water pollution of surrounding areas.

While habitat loss is the primary threat to the gentle lemur, hunting for food and for the pet trade is also adding to the problem. Although legally protected in Madagascar, evidence suggests that a large number of lemurs are hunted annually, with more than 1,000 casualties recorded in some years. To compliment the habitat restoration work, Durrell are also running a local education programme to improve awareness among local people of the importance of protecting the lemurs and their habitat. 

Along with the wildlife pet trade, find out about other imminent threats facing wildlife from human-related activities in our Responsible Travel Tips guide. The guide highlights issues associated with tourism and provides tips on how to play a positive part in them.

The Alaotra Gentle Lemur's habitat is under threat from invasive plants. This lemur conservation project aims to restore their habitat by clearing these plants.

Restoring the Habitat of the Critically Endangered Alaotra Gentle Lemur

Clearing Invasive Plants To Protect a Critically Endangered Lemur

Eurasian aspen (Populus tremula) is a keystone species that is largely missing from Scottish woodlands today. In Europe, its often found alongside birch, rowan, willow, and alder in the broadleaf component of northern coniferous forests. Together, they can occupy around 15-20% of the forest. In Scotland, aspen mostly exists as small, isolated fragments often consisting of single relict trees. To restore the natural diversity of the native pinewoods and return aspen to the landscape, we are partnering with Alladale Wilderness Reserve on a long-term project to plant and support the natural regeneration of aspen trees on the reserve.   

Planting Aspen: Restoring a Keystone Tree to the Scottish Highlands

Beginning in Spring 2021, we launched a long-term partnership with Alladale to plant and protect aspen trees on the reserve. We hope to significantly increase the amount of aspen on the reserve by planting open areas with trees grown in nurseries and by protecting naturally regenerating aspen from deer browsing with fences. We will focus our efforts in riparian areas where aspen play an important role in stabilising the river bank, creating shade and providing nutrients in the form of leaf fall. In doing so, we will also improve the suitability of the reserve for beavers in the event of their return in the future. 

Aspen is considered to be a keystone species because of its ecological importance for other species. It provides vital habitat for a number of invertebrates, including aspen hoverfly (Hammerschmidtia ferruginea), an endangered species in the UK, as well as a diversity of lichen and bryophytes. Aspen is an important source of food for wildlife like, the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), and provides important nesting sites for several species of hole nesting birds, including various species of woodpeckers. In Europe, aspen stands have been shown to be used by capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), another endangered species in Britain and of great conservation concern. 

Historical management of Scotland’s woodlands for timber meant that non-useful trees, like aspen, were removed. This, coupled with the fact that aspen is one of the most palatable trees to deer and other herbivores, has reduced aspen in Scotland to small isolated fragments.  High densities of deer are now limiting the regeneration and return of aspen to the Scottish landscape. Aspen also rarely produces seeds in Scotland, reproducing mainly by new shoots, called ramets or suckers, growing directly from the root systems of mature trees. As a result, once aspen is removed from a site, it is very slow to colonise. 

We are restoring Eurasian aspen (Populus tremula) to the Scottish Highlands in partnership with Alladale Wilderness Reserve. Learn why aspen is important to protect.

Restoration of Eurasian aspen trees

Returning a Keystone Tree to the Scottish Highlands

For our first ever rewilding impact project, our focus turns to the ancient forests of the Southern Carpathians, where we work with Fundatia Conservation Carpathia (FCC), a local organisation working on the protection of the wild ecosystems. Here, our members are supporting ranger patrols in the existing old-growth forests of Romania.

Regular patrols and having a presence in the mountains really help protect the existing old-growth forests from illegal logging and poaching, as well as building a bridge between the conservation world and local communities. The intervention would help support a variety of expenses that includes salaries, fuel for the vehicles, vehicle repairs, and GPS equipment.

We returned to the Southern Carpathians the following spring on a tree planting intervention, where we had the chance to spend four days being guided by several of the FCC rangers. They are as passionate as they are knowledgeable about the mountains, and have seen a significant decline in illegal clear-cutting and poaching since they have had a regular presence in the area. The rangers believe that once local communities truly understand the value of preserving nature, which is happening slowly, such regular patrols will not be required. 

Our rewilding impact project has helped fund the ongoing expenses for vehicle maintenance and fuel for 2 rangers for 6 months.

Regular ranger patrols help protect Romania's existing old-growth forests from illegal logging & poaching, as well as building a bridge with local communities.

Supporting Ranger Salaries

To protect the old-growth forests of the Southern Carpathians 

For the Spring 2020 rewilding project, we head to the location of our new project, Slovakia, where we support our amazing partners, Broz, to restore the Danube floodplain forests. This project assists the wonderful work happening to protect Slovakia's endangered population of European pond turtles. 

Slovakia Rewilding Vote

Learn more about why we are protecting European pond turtle eggs & nests

Discussions of turtle conservation more often than not bring up images of charismatic sea turtles, like the logger head and green turtle, gliding through crystal clear warm waters and bathing on soft white tropical sand. Both these species are also found in Europe, specifically the Mediterranean Sea, and are the focus of ambitious conservation projects to protect against the large number of threats they face in Europe, both on land and at sea. These include harvesting for consumption, habitat degradation, disturbance and fishing-induced mortality. Lesser known but equally deserving of our attention are Europe’s freshwater turtles. Many freshwater species, which includes terrapins and pond turtles, are under threat from the pet trade, habitat degradation, habitat fragmentation, vehicle collisions and non-native predators, yet their conservation seems less of a priority. That’s why we’ve partnered with Broz, our partners in Slovakia, to protect one such species, the little European pond turtle, and help safeguard its future in Slovakia. 

Fossil records show the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) has been present in Slovakia for at least 120,000 years. However, in recent years it has disappeared from much of its range. Today, there are only two known sites with a viable breeding population in Slovakia. These pond turtles live in open habitats and rely on wetlands, ponds and water channels for hunting and moving. Eggs are laid in shallow under ground nests in sandy soils with little vegetation. Depending on the weather, the hatchlings can remain at the nest site throughout winter and start emerging in spring following year. Unfortunately, the European pond turtle is losing suitable breeding habitat across much of its range as land is converted to agriculture and nests destroyed and turtles killed by agricultural disturbance.

The nesting behaviour of these pond turtles leaves them susceptible to predators as well. Our partners have access to one of the last remaining breeding populations in Slovakia, where predation is the main threat. Predator protection measures are there a vital conservation intervention to protect this important population. The project funds the training of detection dog to detect turtle eggs underground. Since nests are practically invisible to the human eye, the detection dog will accompany the field team to the breeding site to survey for active nests. Fences are erected over active nests to protect the eggs and hatchlings from predators, thereby helping to improve the reproductive success of one of Slovakia’s last remaining breeding populations of European pond turtle.

To support the conservation of the turtles more widely, the team are tagging turtles with GPS trackers to enable them to monitoring their movement patterns in the long term. This will provide crucial data to enable the team to identify important areas of habitat for protection and restoration, including any unknown breeding sites.

To contribute to the conservation of Slovakia's European Pond Turtle we are supporting surveying and protection of active nests and turtle eggs.

Protecting Turtle Nests & Eggs

Conserving Slovakia's European Pond Turtle

South of the Douro river in Portugal, there is an Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus) subpopulation that, on top of other challenges, is being threatened by conflict with local farmers. When wolves attack livestock they become an economic burden for the local community, which may respond by killing or harming them. Unless this conflict is resolved it is difficult to see a viable future for the Iberian wolf in the region.  We are working with our partners at Rewilding Portugal to focus on this issue. Our members are funding a well-tested solution for minimising wolf attacks: supporting livestock guarding dogs. 

The Iberian Wolf - Mossy Earth Rewilding Vote

Livestock guarding dogs from native breeds, such as Serra da Estrela and Castro Laboreiro, can be extremely effective in detecting wolves near the flock/herd and chasing them away, thereby preventing wolf attacks and livestock losses from occurring. Still, there are significant costs associated with acquiring and taking good care of the dogs and this can deter farmers from embracing the solution. Rewilding Portugal is working together with Grupo Lobo to address this and make it easier for local farmers to acquire and maintain livestock guarding dogs.

This project involves providing food for 5 - 7 dogs until they are fully grown (about 18 months). Other than encouraging farmers, the intervention is designed to ensure that the dogs are properly fed so that they can become strong and effective protectors of the domestic animals and therefore decrease social conflict between these farmers and the Iberian wolf.  Support is directed towards farmers that experience a high risk of wolf attacks and that commit to taking good care of the dogs. Continued check ups with the farmers will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. 

In Portugal, the Iberian wolf population is divided by the Douro river. While north of the Douro the subpopulation is larger and more stable, south of the Douro there are only a handful of scattered packs. This subpopulation is threatened by habitat destruction and fragmentation, large rural fires, illegal persecution, a lack of wild prey, and conflict with farmers. 

The main causes of wolf mortality in the region are due to humans – either due to traffic collisions, snares (directed at other species such as wild boar), or illegal persecution (the wolves are illegally shot). Taking into account the small size of the subpopulation (certainly fewer than 50 individuals) and its fragmented and unstable situation, decreasing the main causes of mortality to wolves is critical to ensure the long-term viability of the species in the region. 

Due to the lack of wild prey and poor protection of domestic animals, wolves often prey on domestic goats, sheep and cows, creating a social conflict with local communities. In the region, livestock breeding is one of the main economic activities, and the attacks from Iberian wolf can have a serious impact on the livelihood of some farmers. 

In this context, reducing conflict between wolves and livestock breeders is of paramount importance to safeguard the future of the Iberian wolf in this region and protect the livelihoods of the rural people. Rewilding in this instance is tied to improving coexistence with a large carnivore.

The project area includes the whole wolf range south of the Douro river. It is believed that a large part of the Iberian wolf subpopulation is currently in the areas of Montemuro and Serras da Freita e Arada. There are also some wolf packs in the middle zone of the project, in the areas of Leomil, Trancoso and Lapa. Due to their location and the stability of some of these packs they can play an important role in connecting Montemuro/Freita e Arada with the packs nearer the Spanish border.

This is extremely important considering that the wolf subpopulation is genetically isolated, particularly the packs in Montemuro/Freita e Arada. In the west, the areas of the Douro International and Malcata are currently the known limits of wolf distribution. This is an area of more irregular wolf presence, which receives dispersing wolves from the Spanish population. The stability of these packs plays a key role in bringing genetic diversity to the area.

Rather than being implemented in isolation, the chosen project will fit with the wider context of ecological restoration and rewilding in the area. Rewilding Portugal is coordinating the LIFE WolFlux project, which aims to decrease the ecological and socioeconomic barriers to the long-term viability of the Iberian wolf subpopulation south of the Douro river. Rewilding Portugal is implementing this five-year project (2019-2023) in partnership with other local partners. The LIFE WolFlux project is co-financed by the Endangered Landscapes Programme. The chosen Mossy Earth project will complement this LIFE project and allow Rewilding Portugal to have a greater impact in the region. 

Our Projects

Reforestation

Rewilding

Reforesting Scotland

Translocating Water Voles

Kelp Restoration Trial

Restoring California’s Sea Otter Populations

Foraois | Reforesting Ireland

The Southern Carpathians