In keeping with her trend of introducing ecological and conservationist theories and views, Marris focuses on the concept of rewilding in the fourth chapter of the book. Rewilding, the brainchild of ecologist Dave Foreman and adopted by Frans Vera from the Netherlands, combines the goals to return ecosystems to a former baseline as well as the undisturbed characteristics of pristine wilderness that 19th and 20th century conservationists longed for. Together, they form a new ideal to transform areas of land to a baseline from a time far before humans had any major impact on the ecosystem. Vera defines the unaltered and untouched baseline as the closest way to way to achieve a pristinely resurrected wilderness.
The short term goal of rewilding is to utilize “regulation provided by large, top-of-the-food chain predators” (Marris 60). These predators would ideally eventually “meet, mate and maintain a healthy gene pool” (Marris 60). However, one of the major drawbacks of this plan is that many of the plants and animals that inhabited the specific testing areas no longer exist. Instead, close relatives have replaced them, and these relatives become the new subjects for the reqilding experiment. The logic is that there are existing animals, like the Spanish-native horses, “aren’t that different” (Marris 61) from extinct species such as the Equus caballus.
The concept of rewilding seems flawed. Ecologists seem to be accepting multiple substitutions for their experiment, which can jeopardize the success of the outcome. By introducing substitute modern species of animals for similar prehistoric species, scientists are widening the margin of error for reaching the targeted ecological baseline. In some cases, scientists may find that the most similar animal species to one of the baseline no longer exists, or has adapted to vastly different conditions.
Marris also describes another potential flaw in the rewilding plan- the integration of uprooted and nonnative animals. What is even more disturbing is that some of the species of interest are endangered. The “Asian asses, wild horses and Bactrian camels (from the Gobi Desert)” (Marris 62) would be relocated to North America. All three of these species are endangered, but “could stand in for the wild horses and camels that once roamed the [North American] continent” (Marris 63). All this would be done for the sake of the rewilding, but at the detrimentally high cost of potentially eliminating an endangered species.
Taking such an enormous risk without the reassurance of a positive outcome seems irrational and unjustifiable. Even if rewilding does become the new standard of pristine nature, is it worth losing countless species of animals over? Not to mention the plants that will be introduced to the alien ecosystem as well, which may suffer the same faith as the imported animals. The question to ask is, is achieving a centuries-old baseline and recreating a natural environment untouched by humans worth risking the ecosystems we have now? Surely not. The irony of creating an artificial human-free natural reserve will no doubt backfire, and leave us hoping for, but not experiencing and living with, yet another variant of pristine nature.
