6. Richard Tyler, 17 December 2007, quoted in the Western Mail.
7. Countryside Council for Wales, 2011, ‘Claerwen’, http://www.ccw.gov.uk/landscape--wildlife/protecting-our-landscape/special-landscapes--sites/protected-landscapes/national-nature-reserves/claerwen.aspx
8. Daniel Pauly, 1995, ‘Anecdotes and the shifting baseline syndrome of fisheries’, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 10, no. 10, doi: 10.1016/S0169–5347(00)89171-5.
9. Derek Yalden, 1999, The History of British Mammals, T and AD Poyser, London.
10. R. C. Tassell, 2011, Direct Sowing of Birch on an Upland Dense Bracken Site, 2002–2011, Coed Cymru, Powys.
11. Trees for Life, no date given, ‘Seed dispersal’, http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/ecological/seed_dispersal.html
12. Bryony Coles, 2006, Beavers in Britain’s Past, Oxbow Books and WARP, Oxford.
13. Ibid.
14. Derek Gow, 2006, ‘Beaver trends in Britain and Europe’, ECOS, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 57–65.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Severin Carrell, 25 November 2010, ‘Scotland’s beaver-trapping plan has wildlife campaigners up in arms’, Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/25/beavers-scotland-conservation
18. Richard Vaughan, FUW, quoted by Sally Williams, 8 April 2011, ‘Beavers scheme just “crazy”, farmers warn’, Western Mail.
19. The Blaeneinion Project, 2011, Beaver Fact Sheet, http://www.blaeneinion.co.uk
20. William J. Ripple and Robert L. Beschta, 2012, ‘Trophic cascades in Yellowstone: the first 15 years after wolf reintroduction’, Biological Conservation, vol. 145, issue 1, pp. 205–13.
21. Åsa Hägglund and Göran Sjöberg, 1999, ‘Effects of beaver dams on the fish fauna of forest streams’, Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 115, nos. 2–3, pp. 259–66, doi:10.1016/S0378–1127(98)00404-6; Krzysztof Kukula and Aneta Bylak, 2010, ‘Ichthyofauna of a mountain stream dammed by beaver’, Archives of Polish Fisheries, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 33–43, doi: 10.2478/v10086-010-0004-1.
22. Douglas B. Sigourney et al, 2006, ‘Influence of beaver activity on summer growth and condition of age-2 Atlantic salmon parr’, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, vol. 135, no. 4, pp. 1068–75, doi: 10.1577/T05–159.1.
23. Robert J. Naiman, Carol A. Johnston and James C. Kelley, 1988, ‘Alteration of North American streams by beaver’, BioScience, vol. 38, no. 11, pp. 753–62, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1310784
24. Mateusz Ciechanowski et al, 2011, ‘Reintroduction of beavers Castor fiber may improve habitat quality for vespertilionid bats foraging in small river valleys’, European Journal of Wildlife Research, vol. 57, pp. 737–47, doi: 10.1007/s10344-010-0481-y.
25. Nick Mott, 2005, Managing Woody Debris in Rivers and Streams, Water for Wildlife and the Wildlife Trusts, http://www.riou.be/pdf/extern/Woody%20Debris%20Booklet.pdf
26. See fig. 20.22, chap. 20 of the ‘UK national ecosystem assessment’, http://uknea.unep-wcmc.org/Resources/tabid/82/Default.aspx
27. Mott, Managing Woody Debris.
28. Forest Research, 2012, Slowing the Flow at Pickering: What is the Project?, http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-7ZUCL6; Forest Research, Slowing the Flow in Pickering and Sinnington, http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Slow_the_flow_Pickering_factsheet.pdf/$FILE/Slow_the_flow_Pickering_factsheet.pdf
29. Naiman, Johnston and Kelley, ‘Alteration of North American streams by beaver’.
30. Sally Williams, 8 April 2011, ‘Beavers scheme just “crazy”, farmers warn’, Western Mail.
31. Quentin D. Skinner et al, 1984, ‘Stream water quality as influenced by beaver within grazing systems in Wyoming’, Journal of Range Management, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 142–6.
32. Ripple and Beschta, ‘Trophic cascades in Yellowstone’.
33. Ibid.
34. R. J. Naiman and K. H. Rogers, 1997, ‘Large animals and system-level characteristics in river corridors’, BioScience, 47, p. 521, doi: 10.2307/1313120. Cited in J. A. Estes et al, 2011, ‘Trophic downgrading of planet earth’, Science, vol. 333, no. 6040, pp. 301–6, doi: 10.1126/science. 1205106.
35. Lisa Marie Baril, 2009, ‘Change in deciduous woody vegetation, implications of increased willow (Salix Spp.) growth for bird species diversity, and willow species composition in and around Yellowstone National Park’s Northern Range’, MSc thesis, Montana State University, http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2009/baril/BarilL1209.pdf
36. Ripple and Beschta, ‘Trophic cascades in Yellowstone’.
37. Robert L. Beschta and William J. Ripple, 2006, ‘River channel dynamics following extirpation of wolves in northwestern Yellowstone National Park’, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 31, no. 12, pp. 1525–39, doi: 10.1002/esp.1362.
38. William J. Ripple and Robert L. Beschta, 2006, ‘Linking a cougar decline, trophic cascade, and catastrophic regime shift in Zion National Park’, Biological Conservation, vol. 133, pp. 397–408, doi: 10.1016/j.biocon. 2006.07.002.
39. Robert L. Beschta and William J. Ripple, 2009, ‘Large predators and trophic cascades in terrestrial ecosystems of the western United States’, Biological Conservation, vol. 142, pp. 2401–14.
40. Douglas A. Frank, 2008, ‘Evidence for top predator control of a grazing ecosystem’, Oikos, 117, pp. 1718–24, doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2008.16846.x.
41. Ripple and Beschta, ‘Trophic cascades in Yellowstone’.
42. Ibid.
43. Beschta and Ripple, ‘Large predators and trophic cascades’.
44. Adrian D. Manning, Iain J. Gordon and William J. Ripple, 2009, ‘Restoring landscapes of fear with wolves in the Scottish Highlands’, Biological Conservation, vol. 142, issue 10, pp. 2314–21, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2009.05.007
45. G. V. Hilderbrand, et al, 1999, ‘Role of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in the flow of marine nitrogen into a terrestrial ecosystem’, Oecologia, 121, pp. 546–50.
46. D. A. Croll et al, 2005, ‘Introduced predators transform subarctic islands from grassland to tundra’, Science, vol. 30, 7, no. 5717, pp. 1959–61, doi: 10.1126/science.1108485.
47. S. A. Zimov et al, 1995, ‘Steppe-tundra transition: a herbivore-driven biome shift at the end of the Pleistocene’, The American Naturalist, vol. 146, no. 5, pp. 765–94.
48. See D. Nogués-Bravo et al, 2008, ‘Climate change, humans, and the extinction of the woolly mammoth’, PLoS Biology, vol. 6, no. 4, p. 79, doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060079.
49. Zimov et al, ‘Steppe-tundra transition’.
50. S. A. Zimov, 2005, ‘Pleistocene Park: return of the mammoth’s ecosystem’, Science, vol. 308, pp. 796–8, doi: 10.1126/science.1113442.
51. Zimov et al, ‘Steppe-tundra transition’.
52. Susan Rule et al, 2012, ‘The aftermath of megafaunal extinction: ecosystem transformation in Pleistocene Australia’, Science, vol. 335, pp. 1483–6, doi: 10.1126/science.1214261.
53. Laura R. Prugh et al, 2009, ‘The rise of the Mesopredator’, BioScience, 59(9), pp. 779–91.
54. James A. Estes et al, 2011, ‘Trophic downgrading of planet earth’, Science, vol. 333, no. 6040, pp. 301–6, doi: 10.1126/science.1205106.
55. Prugh et al, ‘The rise of the Mesopredator’.
56. Anil Markandya et al, 2008, ‘Counting the cost of vulture decline–an appraisal of the human health and other benefits of vultures in India’, Ecological Economics, 67 (2), pp. 194–204.
7. BRING BACK THE WOLF
*1 The idea behind these speculations was seeded in my mind by the forester Adam Thorogood.
†2 The only mention I have been able to find is in a paper by Oliver Rackham.8 Coppicing and pollarding (resprouting at ground level, or from a cutting point higher up the trunk), Rackham says, are perhaps ‘adaptations to recovering from the assaults of elephants and other giant herbivores. The extermination of the great tree-breaking beasts in Paleolithic times may have been mankind’s first and farthest reaching influence on the world’s forests.’
*3 The s
traight-tusked elephant and the Merck’s and narrow-nosed rhinoceros. Woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos, which were mostly grass eaters, living in cold dry steppes without trees, moved in with the cold weather.
*4 It uses a definition of wilderness produced by a coalition of wildlife groups: ‘Wilderness areas are large unmodified or only slightly modified natural areas, governed by natural processes, without human intervention, infrastructure or permanent habitation, which should be protected and overseen so as to preserve their natural condition and to offer people the opportunity to experience the spiritual quality of nature.’
†5 It connects the Oulanka and Paanajärvi national parks, creating a single ‘wilderness’ of 132,000 hectares.37
*6 Except among bats, which tend not to spread it to any other form of wildlife. (Vampire bats in South America are another matter: they spread rabies to other species, including humans. Some of the goldminers in Roraima told me of terrifying outbreaks caused by vampires in areas they had prospected in the western Amazon.)
*7 Translated by Geraint Jones.70
1. Dick Mol, John de Vos and Johannes van der Plicht, 2007, ‘The presence and extinction of Elephas antiquus Falconer and Cautley, 1847, in Europe’, Quaternary International, vols. 169–70, pp. 149–53.
2. S. L. Vartanyan, V. E. Garutt and A. V. Sher, 1993, ‘Holocene dwarf mammoths from Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic’, Nature, vol. 362, pp. 337–40, doi: 10.1038/362337a0.
3. A. J. Stuart, 2001, ‘Occurrence of mammalia relicts at site Trafalgar Square’, European Quaternary Mammalia Database, http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.64391; J. W. Franks, 1959, ‘Interglacial deposits at Trafalgar Square, London’, re-issued 2006, in New Phytologist, vol. 59, issue 2.
4. Hervé Bocherens et al, 2011, ‘Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of cave lion (Panthera spelaea) in north-western Europe: prey choice, competition and implications for extinction’, Quaternary International, vol. 245, no. 2, pp. 249–61, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.02.023
5. Derek Yalden, 1999, The History of British Mammals, T and AD Poyser, London.
6. Mary C. Stiner, 2004, ‘Comparative ecology and taphonomy of spotted hyenas, humans, and wolves in Pleistocene Italy’, Revue de Paléobiologie, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 771–85.
7. Franks, ‘Interglacial deposits at Trafalgar Square’.
8. Oliver Rackhan, no date given, ‘Ancient forestry practices’, in Victor R. Squires (ed.), The Role of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Human Nutrition, vol. II, Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems.
9. Jonas Chafota, 1998, ‘Effects of changes in elephant densities on the environment and other species: how much do we know?’, Cooperative Regional Wildlife Management in Southern Africa, http://agecon.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/lovell-jarvis/docs/elephant/chafota.pdf; J. J. Smallie and T. G. O’Connor, 2000, ‘Elephant utilization of Colophospermum mopane: possible benefits of hedging’, African Journal of Ecology, vol. 38, pp. 352–9.
10. Graham Kerley et al, 2008, ‘Effects of elephants on ecosystems and biodiversity’, in R. J. Scholes and K. G. Mennell (eds.), Elephant Management: A Scientific Assessment of South Africa, Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg; Peter Baxter, 2003, ‘Modeling the impact of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana, on woody vegetation in semi-arid savannas’, PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
11. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2008, ‘Feral wild boar in England: an action plan’, http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/feralwildboar_tcm6–4508.pdf
12. M. J. Goulding and T. J. Roper, 2002, ‘Press responses to the presence of free-living wild boar (Sus scrofa) in southern England’, Mammal Review, 32, pp. 272–82, doi: 10.1046/j.1365–2907.2002.00109.x.
13. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ‘Feral wild boar in England’.
14. Derek Gow, 2002, ‘A wallowing good time–wild boar in the woods’, ECOS, 23 (2), pp. 14–22.
15. Trees for Life, 2008, ‘Results from the Guisachan Wild Boar Project’, http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/missing/guisachan200805.html
16. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ‘Feral wild boar in England’.
17. Camila Ruz, 1 September 2011, ‘Wild boar cull “not based on scientific estimates’”, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/01/wildboar-cull
18. Gow, ‘A wallowing good time’.
19. British Wild Boar Organisation, January 2010, ‘Interesting happenings occurring with Britain’s free-living wild boar’, http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/BWBONewsletterJan2010.pdf
20. Jenny Farrant, 2 February 2012, by email.
21. Northern Potential, 2011, ‘The Highlands of Scotland’, http://northern-potential.net/the_highlands_of_scotland
22. Alan Watson Featherstone, 2001, ‘The wild heart of the Highlands’, Trees for Life, http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.wildheart.html
23. Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2003/2/contents
24. Peter Fraser, Angus MacKenzie and Donald MacKenzie, 2012, ‘The economic importance of red deer to Scotland’s rural economy and the political threat now facing the country’s iconic species’, Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association.
25. Ibid.
26. BBC Scotland, 16 June 2011, ‘Mull’s economy soars on wings of white-tailed eagles’, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-13783555
27. RSPB, various dates, ‘Mull white-tailed eagles’, http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/mulleagles/
28. BBC Scotland, ‘Mull’s economy soars on wings of white-tailed eagles’.
29. The Scottish Government, June 2010, The Economic Impact of Wildlife Tourism in Scotland, research conducted by International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, Bournemouth University, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/05/12164456/1
30. Patrick Barkham, 14 September 2011, ‘Record numbers of golden eagles poisoned in Scotland in 2010’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/14/golden-eagles-poisoned-scotland-rspb
31. Alan Watson Featherstone, 2010, ‘Restoring biodiversity in the native pinewoods of the Caledonian Forest’, Reforesting Scotland, issue 41, pp. 17–21, http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/images/Reforesting%20Scotland%2041%20Biodiversity.pdf
32. Dan Puplett, no date given, ‘Riparian woodlands’, http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/ecological/riparianwoodland.html
33. David Hetherington, 13 July 2010, presentation at Re wilding Europe and the Return of Predators. Symposium convened by the Zoological Society of London.
34. Kevin Cahill, 2002, Who Owns Britain, Canongate, Edinburgh.
35. Rewilding Europe, 2012, Making Europe a Wilder Place, www.rewildingeurope.com/assets/uploads/Downloads/Rewilding-Europe-Brochure-2012.pdf
36. Rewilding Europe, 2012, ‘First wild bison in Romania after 160 years’, http://rewildingeurope.com/news/articles/first-wild-bison-in-romania-after-160-years/
37. http://www.panparks.org/newsroom/news/2012/wilderness-does-not-stop-at-borders
38. WWF, 2012, ‘Danube-Carpathian region’, http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/black_sea_basin/danube_carpathian/blue_river_green_mtn/; Wild Europe, 2010, ‘Towards a wilder Europe: developing an action agenda for wilderness and large natural habitat areas’, http://www.panparks.org/sites/default/files/docs/publications-resources/towards_a_wilder_europe.pdf
39. Wild Europe, 2010, Restoration Conference, http://www.wildeurope.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=19
40. Wild Europe, ‘Towards a wilder Europe’.
41. Pan Parks, 27 June 2012, Genuine wilderness protection in Germany’, http://www.panparks.org/newsroom/news/2012/genuine-wilderness-protection-in-germany
42. Twan Teunissen, 3 October 2011, ‘Horses to the wolves, wolves to the horses’, http://rewildingeurope.com/blog/horses-to-the-wolves-wolves-to-the-horses/
43. Ibid.
44. Suzanne Goldenberg, 8 December 2010, �
��How America is learning to live with wolves again’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/08/keeping-wolf-from-door
45. Wildlife Extra, September 2011, ‘Wolf caught on camera trap in Belgium’ (Video), www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/wolf-belgium.html
46. Erwin van Maanen, 2011, ‘Wolves marching further west!’, http://www.rewildingfoundation.org/2011/09/23/wolves-marching-further-west/
47. Rewilding Europe, Making Europe a Wilder Place.
48. Ibid.
49. International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Bison bonasus. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/2814/0
50. The Blaeneinion Project, 2011, Beaver Fact Sheet, http://www.blaeneinion.co.uk
51. Rewilding Europe, Making Europe a Wilder Place.
52. J. D. C. Linnell et al, 2002, ‘The fear of wolves: a review of wolf attacks on humans’, NINA (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research) Opp dragsmelding 731, http://www.nina.no/archive/nina/PppBasePdf/oppdragsmelding/731.pdf
53. Roger Panaman, 2002, ‘Wolves are returning’, ECOS, vol. 23, no. 2.
54. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1993, ‘The reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho: environmental impact statement’, Gray Wolf Environmental Impact Study, Helena, Montana. Cited by Panaman, ‘Wolves are returning’.
55. P. Ciucci and L. Boitani, 1998, ‘Wolf and dog depredation on livestock in central Italy’, Wildlife Society Bulletin, vol. 26, pp. 504–14.
56. Laetitia M. Navarro and Henrique M. Pereira, 2012, ‘Rewilding abandoned landscapes in Europe’, Ecosystems, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 900–912.
57. Charles J. Wilson, 2004, ‘Could we live with reintroduced large carnivores in the UK?’, Mammal Review, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 211–32.
58. BBC Technology, 6 August 2012, ‘Sheep to warn of wolves via text message’, www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19147403
59. Guillaume Chapron, 13 July 2010, ‘Restoring and managing wolves in Sweden’, presentation at Rewilding Europe and the Return of Predators. Symposium convened by the Zoological Society of London.
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