Concept of rewilding Rewilding simply means conservation what existed prior: “the pristine wilderness.” The Białowieża forest experienced its own rewilding because the forest often became “a game preserve for royals and other elites” (Marris). The first instance of human influence began in 1409 with “Władysław Jagiełło, king of Poland and Lithuania” (Marris) who hunted game for his army to fight off the Teutonic Knights. Under 19th century Russian rule, humans killed off some bears and wolves that competed with them for game. In World War I, Germans logged over 5% of the forest and hunted the bison aggressively, lowering their numbers significantly. Rewiliding seems to be the only solution in minimizing human damage upon the great wilderness, restoring nature back to their baselines, but under what guidelines?
Rewilding began under Hermann Göring as a personal conquest for bison, deer and boar. However, this transformed quickly as he “ordered the game protected and local people expelled from the forest villages and murdered in large numbers” (Marris). The idea that the wilderness contained a limited amount of resources always existed and ironically, people always ended up rewilding the wilderness by accident, restoring a certain level of pre-existing biodiversity.
The director of the University of Warsaw’s Geobotanical Station, Bogdan Jaroszewicz finds a certain wonder with the “aura of the forest” (Marris) something innate within each of us that is able to connect to the great wilderness. While nature isn’t conducive to human progress and development, it remains a place humans can seek solace and reconnect to their origins. Athough efforts of rewilding may be generally beneficial, the same can be said for the counterargument. “Megafauna” such as the wild horses, mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, glyptodont, short faced bears, camels, sabre-tooth tigers, lions and cheetahs from prehistoric eras died off because of their inefficient calories consumption. They consumed too many calories and over the long period of time, it become impossible for the environment to sustain such gigantic consumers. It’s ridiculous to try to revisit this baseline because at some point in time, these creatures were dominant members of this ecosystem. One of Marris’ ideas states that nature constantly changes and morphs to accomodate the inhabitants.
Yet the feasibility exists. Some of the “North American groups used fire to clear areas to promote new green growth” (Marris), attracting all sorts of game. Australians also utilized fire to bend nature and rejuvenate it. For example, they used fire to clear paths for travel, encourage plant growth, and attract herbivores for game. If our ancestors understood the methods for rebuilding the environment, why can’t we recreate that phenomenon?
Dave Foreman, an environmental activist promotes a purist view of preservation, insisting that nature should be devoid of people. (Ironically, the man who appreciate nature exclaims that man should not be in it) One quote from Aldo Leopold, an American author and environmentalist states, “one of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds” (Marris). These radical environmental activists do not realize that the costs for rewilding may be greater for some areas than others and definitely can be realized. However, reasonable goals must be set in order for humankind in order to reach them. Harmony between humans and nature exists nonetheless. Nature is whatever exists and adapts to the current ecosystem.
