Spring is a good time for reconnecting with nature. Flowers are blooming, and our food gardens are being seeded. Rewilding nature in our communities can be an act of resistance in the face of trade wars raising prices at the grocery store, disastrous new federal policies weakening food safety and oversight and diminishing protections for wildlife and wild places, and U.S. Department of Agriculture cuts that make our nutritional security less sure.
What’s rewilding? It’s a way of coexisting with nature that brings balance and vitality to native ecosystems, improves biodiversity, and promotes ecosystem restoration. But it’s also about increasing places for nature in and around human communities and understanding our part in the natural world.
You don’t have to live in the wilderness to rewild. Whether you live in the countryside or in a city or town, rewilding by adding more native plants and protecting and restoring natural places is good for both nature and our wellbeing.
Of course we all need to fight hard to protect the wild and our democracy at the federal level.
At the same time, you can do plenty at the local level.
Urban and suburban rewilding can look like helping out your wild neighbors with expert-assisted placement of bat boxes and owl boxes, coexisting with the delight of urban coyotes, or using nonlethal solutions to address gophers in gardens. And don’t forget building healthy spaces for the pollinators and insects life depends on and supporting wildlife connectivity.
The Center’s staff are big fans of boosting biodiversity with organic food gardens. Planting food in organic gardens and creating wildlife habitats rather than monocrop grass and nonnative plants are also a form of rewilding. We’ve discussed the benefits of replacing pavement with pollinators. Adding more trees and green spaces can provide shade and help lower temperatures while emphasizing wildlife habitat and a diversity of native plants.
There are other ways to help protect your community beyond the garden. As the Center’s Tierra Curry demonstrated by swimming in 108 rivers across the Southeast, most rivers are polluted and degraded. Food production is a leading source of local water pollution, from pesticides to fertilizer runoff and slaughterhouse pollution. Joining a river cleanup can revitalize watersheds and protect aquatic species. In more urban areas, creating healthy riverwalks and vibrant community food gardens can invite biodiversity and boost local economies and food security.
Signing up for community-supported agriculture (CSAs) and supporting farmers’ markets, local food banks, and co-ops can add food justice to your arsenal of environmental advocacy. As we explained last month, the USDA has cut over $1 billion in local food funding that goes to schools and food banks. This could devastate rural economies and small farmers. Building support for local growers and nutritional security at the community level are important acts of resistance. See our new Wildlife-Friendly Guide to Sustainable School Food for more ways to help school programs, from the classroom to the cafeteria to school gardens.
And some hopeful news for the beautiful butterflies in our gardens and beyond: After a decade of advocacy by the Center and allies, monarchs may finally get fully protected by the Endangered Species Act. Doing things to help rewild our own corner of the world makes a difference. Building a healthier world together by rewilding our communities is good for wildlife and for people.
Read More
Read our new Medium piece, “Wolves Are Key to Rewilding the American West.”
Listen to my interview on In Tune With Nature about the impact of bird flu on wildlife.
Write to me with questions at [email protected].
For the wild,
