Rewilding in Britain, from Concept to Controversy

“By the work of our hands we strive to create a sort of second nature within the world of nature”

Cicero, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods)

The concept of rewilding seeks to restore self-sustaining ecosystems by reducing intensive human management, reintroducing key species or processes, and allowing natural dynamics greater play.

In the densely populated and long-managed landscape of Britain the concept has evolved from a niche conservation theory into a mainstream yet polarising approach, generating disputes over land-use, rural livelihoods, biodiversity outcomes, and, most recently, wildfire risk.

Origins of the Concept

The term ‘rewilding’ first emerged in North America in the late 80s and early 90s. It is associated with the eco-activist Dave Foreman (a co-founder of Earth First!) and the Wildlands Project (later Wildlands Network). Early formulations emphasised the ‘three Cs’: large Core wilderness areas, ecological Corridors, and the restoration of Carnivores to restore trophic processes. The American conservation biologists Michael Soulé and Reed Noss formalised some aspects of this scientific framing in 1998.

In Europe, parallel ideas developed independently, perhaps most famously when the Dutch ecologist Frans Vera’s work at the Oostvaardersplassen reserve from the 1980s tested the hypothesis that large herbivores historically maintained open or mosaic landscapes rather than closed-canopy forest.

This European strand of rewilding prioritised naturalistic grazing by cattle, horses and other proxies for extinct megafauna, and influenced later projects across the continent. However, the experiment proved to be severely flawed and polarised public perception, creating views which have become deeply entrenched over the decades.

Problems at Oostvaardersplassen

Oostvaardersplassen, a roughly 5,000-hectare fenced reserve on land reclaimed from the sea by the Netherlands, became one of Europe’s most influential early rewilding experiments.

From the 1980s, managers introduced Heck cattle, Konik horses and Red deer as proxies for extinct large herbivores, intending that their grazing would maintain open wetland and grassland habitats for birds while populations self-regulated through natural processes (including starvation in hard winters). There were no large predators, limited migration options, and human intervention was deliberately minimised.

The approach produced early ecological interest but repeatedly ran into severe problems. Mild winters allowed herbivore numbers to climb high (peaking above 5,000). In the harsh winter of 2017-18, roughly 3,000-3,300 animals (around 60% of the large grazers) died or were shot by rangers before they could starve.

Carcasses were visible from trains between Almere and Amsterdam; images of emaciated animals sparked public outrage, protests, hay-dumping by activists, death threats against staff (including Vera), and accusations of animal cruelty. This anger was only inflamed when it became apparent that earlier winters had already seen significant mortality and culling.

Critics highlighted that the reserve was an artificial, enclosed system lacking the scale, predators or escape routes of true wilderness, so “natural” regulation equated to prolonged suffering. High densities also damaged vegetation, reduced tree regeneration and led to declines in bird species.

An official provincial committee in 2018 declared the pure rewilding experiment had failed, recommending a hard cap of around 1,500 large herbivores, active population control, supplemental feeding where needed, habitat modifications for shelter, and a shift away from non-intervention. Subsequent management has involved large-scale culling, relocation of horses, and more conventional park-like practices.

The episode remains a cautionary example of the welfare, practical and public-acceptability limits of non-interventionist rewilding in confined European landscapes, and it continues to influence debates about herbivore management in British projects.

Evolution of Rewilding in Britain

British interest predated the popular rewilding label. From the mid-80s and especially the early 2000s, conservationists debated more dynamic, process-based approaches in contrast to traditional site- and species-focused management. Practical experiments included Trees for Life’s work in the Scottish Highlands and early private initiatives.

A watershed moment came with former eco-activist and Guardian journalist George Monbiot’s 2013 book Feral, which popularised ambitious visions of returning large carnivores and transforming upland landscapes. Landmark private projects, above all the Knepp Estate in West Sussex (begun around 2001 by Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree), demonstrated dramatic biodiversity gains, with sharp rises in breeding birds, nightingales, butterflies and other species on former intensive farmland through free-roaming herbivores and reduced intervention. Tree’s 2018 book Wilding further mainstreamed the idea.

Policy followed. The UK’s 25 Year Environment Plan (2018) referenced ecosystem restoration and cited Knepp. Scotland recognised Beavers as a native species in 2019; further reintroductions (including Bison at Wilder Blean) and funding streams for landscape recovery have followed. By the mid-2020s, Rewilding Britain’s network encompassed hundreds of projects covering substantial areas of land and sea. Definitions have softened in the British context: “rewilding” or “wilding” often means reduced management intensity, naturalistic grazing, peatland rewetting, natural regeneration and selective reintroductions rather than pure wilderness.

The scale is typically a lot smaller than North American models, and human interaction remains.

Core Controversies

Critics here argue that rewilding can be elitist, driven by wealthy landowners or large charities, while displacing tenant farmers, reducing food production and hollowing out rural communities.

The National Trust’s plans to expand nature-focused management across tens of thousands of hectares have prompted accusations of unnecessarily ending viable tenancies. In Scotland, purchases of Highland estates by conservation groups or private rewilders have been compared by many to the clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Traditional conservationists worry that abandoning management of cultural landscapes (heather moorland, upland sheep-pastures, meadows, heaths etc) risks losing species adapted to them, such as certain ground-nesting birds. Land-managers (farmers, gamekeepers, foresters etc) and fire services contend that reduced grazing and restrictions on controlled burning (muirburn) allow fuel loads of heather, grass and scrub to build, while peat rewetting is slow and incomplete in drought.

Proponents counter that historical drainage, overgrazing and rotational burning have created flammable, degraded monocultures, and that restoring hydrology, Sphagnum moss and diverse vegetation (including broadleaf woodland) will ultimately produce more resilient, wetter landscapes that resist fire better than dry heather.

Animal-welfare concerns have also arisen, with concerned parties often citing the Oostvaardersplassen experience. Debates continue over which baseline is appropriate: pre-Neolithic, medieval wood-pasture, or something more novel, and whether large predators (Lynx, Wolves) are feasible or desirable.

Wildfires and the Blame Game

The increasing incidence of wildfires in Britain, often linked to hotter, drier summers and climate trends, have sharpened the controversy, and record numbers of incidents in 2025 and into 2026 have focused attention on land management.

Critics argue that rewilding-style policies; reduced sheep numbers, bans or severe limits on controlled heather burning, and a preference for passive or rewetting-focused management by NGOs, build continuous fuel loads of tall heather, purple moor-grass, bracken and scrub. They point out that these create hotter, faster-spreading fires that are harder to control, especially in drought when surface vegetation dries regardless of underlying water tables.

Proponents and organisations such as the RSPB, National Trust and Rewilding Britain reply that traditional management itself created the flammable heather monocultures; that rewetting, Sphagnum restoration and habitat mosaics (including woodland and wet gullies) demonstrably slow or stop fire spread; and that climate is the dominant driver.

Specific instances include:

• Suffolk, 2026: A 371-acre fire started on the RSPB’s Minsmere reserve and spread to National Trust-owned Dunwich Heath. Local residents described the area as a “tinderbox” of overgrown shrubs followin changes in deer management and reduced intervention. Critics explicitly blamed a “rewilding agenda”; an LSE (London School of Economics) environmental geographer, Dr Tom Smith, noted the risks of naïve non-intervention without active transition toward less flammable vegetation: “There’s a naivety in some people’s ideas of rewilding that you leave the land alone, but in reality, it requires active management to go back to forested landscape”.
• Cairngorms National Park, July–August 2026: A major fire burned for weeks across roughly 25 km² of moorland and woodland near Aviemore, including significant areas of the RSPB Abernethy/Loch Garten reserve. Evacuations occurred; damage was described as “apocalyptic”. Critics pointed to NGO management preferences; rewilding advocates emphasised climate, public access ignitions and the long-term benefits of peat and woodland recovery.

• Peak District/ Saddleworth / Dovestone: The large 2018 Saddleworth Moor fire began on managed grouse-shooting ground and spread onto the neighbouring RSPB Dovestone reserve (managed with rewetting and restoration since around 2011). The RSPB reported that wetter, restored areas and vegetated gullies acted as firebreaks and suffered less damage. However, major fires returned in 2025–2026 on and around Dovestone and Tintwistle, burning hundreds of hectares (equivalent to over 1,000 football pitches in one episode). Critics note repeated blazes on rewetted NGO land; the RSPB and partners stress ongoing restoration work, collaboration with fire services, and that healthy Sphagnum-dominated bog resists fire far better than drained heather. Neighbouring private estates managed with controlled burning and grazing are held up as lower-risk alternatives.
• Marsden Moor (West Yorkshire): Marsden moor has been actively rewetted and restored for two decades (gully blocking, Sphagnum planting, no controlled burning). Despite this, it has suffered multiple significant wildfires (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and further incidents more recently). Critics cite it as evidence that rewetting alone does not eliminate surface fuel risk under dry, windy conditions or high ignition pressure from public access. The Trust and peat partnerships continue restoration, arguing it reduces severity and supports long-term resilience, carbon storage and wildlife.
• Wider Peak District, South Pennines and North Yorks Moors: Land managers have reported doubling of heather fuel loads over 15 years on many estates as burning restrictions tightened. Fires at sites including Howden, the Kinder Scout approaches and Fylingdales (North Yorks Moors, 2025) have been severe, with deep peat burning and high carbon release in some cases. Natural England reviews of its own rewetted reserves have been cited by critics as showing limited short-term fire prevention. Meanwhile, large-scale peat restoration partnerships (Moors for the Future and others) document reduced runoff, better water quality and progressive Sphagnum recovery, claiming these will ultimately lower fire risk. Projects such as Wild Ingleborough (Yorkshire Dales) and National Trust work on Kinder Scout exemplify the landscape-scale rewetting and mosaic-creation approach that rewilding advocates promote.

Reviewing the reactions to these and other incidents concerning rewilding it is clear that involved stakeholders present selective evidence. Controlled Burning and grazing demonstrably reduce above-ground fuel in the short term but can perpetuate flammable heather dominance and damage peat if used too often and for too long. Rewetting and Sphagnum restoration improve water retention and create natural breaks where successful, yet transition periods leave continuous fuel, and surface dryness in drought still allows ignition.

Integrated approaches (rewetting plus strategic cutting, limited burning, grazing and firebreaks) are increasingly discussed, but polarisation remains high.

The Contemporary landscape

In 2026 rewilding occupies an ambiguous position: celebrated for biodiversity recoveries at sites such as Knepp, and supported by growing policy interest, yet increasingly accused of ideological overreach that risks food security, rural communities and landscape safety. Government schemes now fund ‘landscape recovery’, while restrictions on burning and grazing continue to provoke pushback.

To those of us who have followed the debate closely it is clear that there are ongoing efforts to domesticate the idea to fit a densely populated country with strong cultural identities.

The controversies ultimately turn on competing visions of the British landscape and on how best to manage any transition under enormous pressures. Evidence from individual projects is mixed and context-specific; large-scale, long-term monitoring and adaptive, multi-tool management will be essential if the approach is to deliver resilient ecosystems without unintended costs.

Right now, after one of the hottest summers on record, is the time to decide once-and-for-all what rewilding entails, and if it’s the correct path to take, before public sentiment turns cold.

Sources & References

History of Rewilding:

• Rewilding Britain timeline Official history of the UK movement since 2015
• Rewilding the UK one abandoned lot at a time, National Geographic (2022)
• Dispelling The Myth Of The Wild, Noema On origins (Foreman, Vera, Oostvaardersplassen vs Yellowstone)
• Rethinking rewilding, Geoforum (ScienceDirect abstract)
• Conservation, rewilding and reintroductions in England and Britain (Thomas, 2025)
• The emergence of rewilding in North America / Europe chapters Routledge Handbook of Rewilding

Oostvaardersplassen:

• ‘It was the start of a new movement’: The Dutch rewilding project that took a dark turn, BBC Future (2025)
• Dutch rewilding experiment sparks backlash as thousands of animals starve, The Guardian (2018)
• About 1,000 deer to be culled at controversial Dutch rewilding park, The Guardian (2018)
• ‘We make nature here’: pioneering Dutch project, The Guardian (2022)

Wildfire Incidents:

• Rewilding blamed for Suffolk wildfire, The Telegraph (1 Aug 2026)
• Limited spatial co-occurrence of wildfire and prescribed burning on moorlands in Scotland (2024)
• Rewilding is making wild fires worse | The Telegraph (5 Aug 2026)
• Rewilding is the best defence against wildfires, The Spectator (2 Aug 2026)
• How rewilding could help stop the spread of Britain’s wildfires, The Conversation (4 Aug 2026)
• The grouse moors fighting for the right to set their own land ablaze, The Times
• Major fire at RSPB Dove Stone (RSPB, 2026)
• Wildfires destroy moorland size of 1,250 football pitches | BBC (Dove Stone / Tintwistle, 2026)
• ‘Apocalyptic’ damage as Cairngorms wildfire burns for two weeks, BBC (2026)
• Rewetting Is Important. But on Its Own, It Won’t Stop Moors from Burning, Moorland Association
• National Trust ‘desecrating’ farms in rewilding drive, The Telegraph
• Net zero crackdown on farming ‘raises risk of wildfires’, The Telegraph

Sphagnum moss & fire resistance / peatland restoration

• How do peatlands impact wildfires?Ducks Unlimited Canada
• Sphagnum mosses limit total carbon consumption during fire, US Forest Service / Canadian Journal of Forestry Research (Shetler et al. 2008)
• The resistance and short-term resilience of a restored extracted peatland (Blier-Langdeau et al.)
• Kinder Scout peatland restoration project nears end, BBC
• Rare mosses reintroduced to Yorkshire, BBC
• Rewilding and wildfire prevention, Rewilding Britain
• Moorland: All blanket bog restored, Peak District Nature Recovery Plan

Dr Thomas Smith (LSE environmental geographer)

• Dr Thomas Smith profile, LSE
• Why wildfires are becoming impossible to control, LSE Future Proof (video)
• Direct quotes appear in the Telegraph Suffolk wildfire article and Daily Star coverage

Additional / contextual sources

• Two decades of rewilding – a review, Knepp
• Knepp sees surge in biodiversity, BBC
• Wild Ingleborough, Rewilding Europe
• How Natural is Natural? Historical Perspectives, Academia.edu / Transactions of the Royal Historical Society

Thank-you for reading. If you enjoyed this piece and would like to support further articles on the wildlife and history of the Northwest, you can buy me a coffee here.

Alex Burton-Hargreaves

(August 2026)