F E AT U R E By Rebecca Wrigley and Ian Houlston
The rewilding of the landscape profession There is growing recognition of the need to let nature lead. Ian Houlston and Rebecca Wrigley look at how the role of the landscape profession must change and put nature in the forefront, in order to address the climate and nature crises.
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ewilding sounds like simplicity itself. It allows nature and natural processes the chance to exert themselves, and healthier ecosystems to develop over time. But, as ever with burning issues of the day, the debate has at times become controversial. Rewilding was initially most often talked about in relation to uplands and introducing trophic species, all too easily translated into wolves stalking walkers. In fact, rewilding is the umbrella for a host of interventions that try to reverse biodiversity loss. We see partnerships developing ambitious action plans, such as Natural Cambridgeshire’s vision for doubling the area of wildlife habitat and natural greenspace across the region. The largest private landowner in the UK,
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Anders Povlsen, is encouraging native woodland and species to regenerate across his estates in northern Scotland. But we also see significant moves at a local scale, such as at Wild Ken Hill farm in Norfolk, where rewilding is set alongside minimum and zero tillage methods, with the use of natural fungicides and other techniques that are being used to farm productively but in ecologically sensitive ways. Local authorities are relaxing management of verges and parks, allowing wildflower areas to develop. Even when as individuals we decide to let flower heads overwinter in our gardens, we are giving nature more of a chance. Removing or reducing human influence doesn’t mean losing human agency. But when it comes to new development, how far are natural processes allowed to direct how the
