My parents found a little chunk of tall grass prairie in our suburban Chicago neighborhood. It is just ten acres--maybe four to five hectaires. Everybody in the neighborhood thought it was a run-down vacant lot, although they admitted it had pretty flowers. My parents had a friend, a professor who studied prairie plants, who agreed (I think as a favor) to come out and just take a look, anyway. He found over 130 species of native prairie plants, some of them very rare, that first afternoon! Since then seeds from that "run down lot" have been used in important prairie restoration projects. I wish more people could see a native prairie in bloom and realize what a treasure it is.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Great story Martha - we must change our attitude toward the 'mess' that nature presents

@anitachopping

Жыл бұрын

Fabulous

@The_ZeroLine

Жыл бұрын

Wow. I’m from Highland Park. Love that story. Where was this?

@blue2mato312

8 ай бұрын

That is amazing! I’m so glad those native species were saved and spread for restorations.

Coyote populations have not been drastically depleted, in fact they’ve increased and expanded their range due to the removal of wolves.

@The_ZeroLine

Жыл бұрын

Coyotes are even living in DOWNTOWN Chicago. Basically, aside from awful Chinese cities, a place that couldn’t be anymore developed. I now live in LA and Santa Barbara and I see them all the time.

@ANPC-pi9vu

10 ай бұрын

Not just removal of wolves, but the fact coyotes can thrive in cities so they spread by following railways. They also have cross bred with Eastern Grey Wolves in the North East.

Awesome video! Would be awesome to hear about indigenous tribe work in North America especially- many of those biomes were carefully cultivated by native peoples, such as “horticulture” techniques for hazel nut forests, or widely spaced forests as deer hunting parks!

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I’ll have a look into that Bruce, many indigenous peoples coexist with nature than modern society 🌿

Well done Rob! Super informative video as usual. It is always inspiring to see successful rewilding projects. It gives us a bit of hope :) ❤️

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Ah yes, we should all have hope at least - thank you Mossy Earth!!

@MossyEarth

2 жыл бұрын

@@LeaveCurious I think it makes a big difference!

Love the whole concept of re-wilding our world. When I hike in the NW US Forests it is exciting to know there are wolves and Puma and bear in the National Parks. Keep up the valuable work.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Mark

Great video Rob, keep them coming! A couple of years ago I had the pleasure to attend a presentation by American Prairie, such inspiring work they are doing!

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Bet that was very informative and inspring Matthew, thank you!

When I was in high school I lived in Salmon Idaho and my dad worked for the bureau of land management and they had the wolves that they had re introduced in 95 in his warehouse and I got to see them they were absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately it was a very controversial issue within the community especially with ranchers.

It's so important to showcase the success stories. They are out there and they are so inspiring!! Great video

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

100% agree with you Tiago, thank you!

My brain has a small bit of cognitive dissonance between “I’m so happy to see wild horses returning to the West”, and “wild horses are an invasive species”.

In Germany there is a forest, called Hambacher Forst, that recently was partially cut down for brown coal mining. The company, RWE, is now causing the whole forest to die because they destroy the groundwater reserves.. We don't know how to stop the evil company. Someone has to help, please!!

@heathershusband2009

15 күн бұрын

Money always wins sorry to here you plight

I'm grateful for your work. I live in the US and have wanted to participate in rewilding all my life. I've been embarrassed and disheartened by how little is being done here compared to the UK. These stories give me some hope. Thank you. Now if only I can figure out how to participate.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, well the UK is beginning to do more, but we are so far behind many other places and our history with nature has been pretty poor. Theres many ways to get involved, its something i will be making videos on over on patreon :)

@Blackburnian737

Жыл бұрын

"rewilding" isn't talked about as much in the U.S. partly just because we haven't used that terminology as much. We mostly talk about rewilding type projects as "restoring" and "reintroducing". Also we spend more of our time still on "conservation" because we still have a lot of pretty "wild" areas by uk standards that are under threat.

@RoseNZieg

Жыл бұрын

I spent good chunk of my life on restoration projects in the USA. believe it or not, there are lots of them locally and nationally. you just need to be aware of them.

@someblokecalleddave1

Жыл бұрын

You're mistaken, the UK is one of the most degraded and damaged countries in the entire world in terms of damage to our ecosystems flora and fauna. More so since Brexit and under the current Govt - Tory Party (Similar to your Republican party).

@ellencox8415

5 ай бұрын

Start with your own backyard. I have 1/4 acre. This seems like nothing, but when you don't spray the dandelions and the clover and only plant food producing plants with nitrogen restoring plants, you quickly realize how well nature is at fixing issues. The whole neighborhood is involved now with having bee hives on the edge and planting erosion reducing plants on the edges of the ponds. If every person just started with, "What can I do where I live to help?" We wouldn't need massive organizations and governments to do it.

My major is language teaching which has very little to do with environmental science, but I’ve always been curious about ecology or how nature works in reality, and this’s why I’ve been binge-watching lots of your videos. Thanks so much!

Gives me hope! I've grown inmybackyatd and planted a few thousand native Australia tree on farms. Very satisfying

Great video bro!

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you beaksss

we wouldn't be having such a big wildfire problem if we hadn't driven the native beaver population to near extinction. they are a keystone species for a reason, not just for building ponds but for keeping the water on the land longer, letting it sink deep into the soil. natures water conservation and drought prevention squad, and in our hubris we removed them failing to account for just how much an effect they had on the whole landscape. so yeah, I'm saying the root of the whole drought was caused by beaver hunting back in the hunter and trapped days. historically low water levels have a cause and my theory is insufficient beaver population. fewer dams lead to more runoff causing a drought.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

yep this is spot on!

You've got a knack for this. Your passion is a little contagious. Keep up the work. It's high quality viewing and your attention to detail (and deadcat) is notable.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Appreciate it thank you!

Great video as always

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Cheers!!! 🌿

When it comes to old growth trees, other important reasons to preserve them are the hollows they form with provide housing for small animals, both predators and prey, and a place for woodpeckers to feed and build nests. At one point the Smokey Mountains were largely stripped for lumber except for the steep or divicult areas... now they are restored enough that there's some old growth once more and a lot of biodiversity returned. Also so glad that grasslands are finally being protected and restored.

I’d add dam removal on the Elwha, and coming removal on the Klamath. Probably closer to your home, replacement of hundreds of culverts that block fish passage.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Yes!

@ANPC-pi9vu

10 ай бұрын

God, I wish we could do that in the South East. Fuck Franklin Roosevelt.

Great video! Hopefully there will be a lot more success stories to talk about in the near future! 🙏

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Oh yes, there’s many to talk about right now, but I can’t be making 1 hour long videos…… or can I! Thank you!

Outstanding video!! I'm from Nebraska originally and I feel a huge connection to the Prairies and the Buffalo!! I hope to move back to the beautiful Midwest one day very soon! What a lovely and inspiring video!! Only when the Buffalo are brought back to the entire Prairie will this vital, stunningly beautiful and totally unique ecosystem be whole and complete! Bravo, Bravo and BRAVO!!!!

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Hey Louis, what an awesome place to call home! I would love to visit the prairies one day. Thank you!

I live in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. The wildfires are absolutely out of control, destroying everything, occurring even in winter and seemingly never stopping. It’s crazy. Luckily, we’ve just had the wettest winters in decades. However, without tons of beavers, not enough of it gets into our ground aquifers.

Well done! 🤪

🎉 Pure joy to see how decimated and professional young people are coordinating their efforts to rewind areas in need. Their work will be a legacy, and will inspire so many others to get involved. Brilliant work!

The northeast US does need more old growth forest but it also need more grassland and early successional forest. Right now our area is more or less covered with middle-aged forest where its not built-up. These haven,t gained all the components of an old-growth forest but have lost the biota that needs grassland/shrubland. So we need to push in both directiona, more ojd and more new. By the way the KZread channel New England Forest is just fantastic and their beaver pond documentaries are the best on the subject.

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

You’re not wrong we need it all, young forest are in old growth just waiting. I’ll check them out!!

Love this! Please add stories about small projects-small local projects.

Great too see these rewilding projects working ,we want too seemoreacross the USA and the world.

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Yes Caroline I agree - ill get looking for them!

Love love love that I found your channel! Thank you

Great episode, so interesting to see several rewilding successes in North America I hadn’t heard of before. And that heroic Scotsman! I hope he put that money very good use for Scotland.

biodiversity hot spots are usually places that are more prone to extreme environmental changes such as fires landslides and earth quakes

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

That's interesting!! Thank you

Really good factual content

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! 🌿🌿

I love the variety of projects you've covered so far, thanks!

Loved it. The American Prairie project is amazing looking

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

It’s so awesome. Imagine a herd of even 100,000 bison!!

@sujammaz

Жыл бұрын

@@LeaveCurious imagine this not being white man's success.

When I was a kid in the 1970's the Hempstead Plains of which Walt Whitman (Long Island born) said the grass was so tall that you could lose your horse in it had been reduced to a single plot the size of a Levittown yard was fenced in by chain link fence and somehow one lone pheasant wandered and pecked at the grass. I'm sure that even that small plot has disappeared by now. The suburban sprawl of the post WW2 boom has ended all possibility of rewilding that ecosystem. Luckily there are places in America which have not been so utterly destroyed. Keep the faith and keep it wild 👍❗

For everyone who wants to contribute to rewilding, remember to plant native plants at home in your yards. You will be feeding insects and thus migrating birds. Douglas Tallamy's book Nature's Best Hope is helpful for this.

Fantastic! The American Prairie Reserve sounds like a wonderful project. Restoring our earth, allowing it to heal back to a natural state, is the most important thing that we can do. It is the best gift to all of us, including wildlife, that we can give each other. Thank you!

Great job I truly appreciate your coverage of rewilding projects keep up the good work. Regards from Canada

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you William, I appreciate your feedback! 🌿

Another great vid rob! They are always wild and never mild.

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Love that!!

Really interesting video :) I love your presentation style, keeps it exciting even though you share a lot of information!

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much Durate :) pleased you enjoyed the video 🌿🌿

@DuartedeZ

2 жыл бұрын

Duarte, Rob! Not Durate 😂😂

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

@@DuartedeZ Oof my bad Duarte, apologies!

As for me one of the most rewilding success stories of North America is the project “Nokuse” founded by Marion Clifton Davis. He bought 21 000 hectares of hand-made desert (deforested area) and returned aboriginal vegetation and animals there.

Great vid Rob... just discovered your channel - i think im on the 5th vid... your work and passion is awesome and inspiring... i'm blown away - great job buddy:))

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Ahhhh thank you, appreciate that a lot :)

Amazing video, great edition and quality information An idea for another video could be possible ways of re wilding some place

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much, what place did you have in mind?

@joaquimbarbosa896

2 жыл бұрын

@@LeaveCurious Some place that is lacking wilderness like Portugal, Japan or Netherlands

Great video, love your channel! 🇮🇪

Love this video Rob !🌞🍃🌎

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Cheers Christieeee 🌿 ✌

Thanks for covering North American rewilding so well. I love to hear about rewilding in Europe, too, but this is great.

Great videos. I love your enthusiasm

Great video. Thank you

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

You are welcome!

Good work, keep it going.

Damn. Absolutely incredible! I had no idea these initiatives were taking place. So important and giving me hope I did not have before that we would see full megafauna ecosystems restored in the US (not yet the case at Yellowstone because of how small and broken up the reserve and migration paths are beyond the reserve).

good work. keep it up

Very inspiring video and projects indeed! Maybe not quite enough for me to walk 8000 kilometers in a kilt, but definitely left me with optimism - looking forward to the video about potential wolf reintroduction sites!

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

haha yes it's quite a remarkable effort, which I'm a little jealous of i have to say, kilt or no kilt. Thank you Julie!

Really great work! Would love to chat with you about what you learned about these projects on the Rewilding Earth podcast sometime!

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

I know more about UK rewilding thats for sure. I'll be in touch Jack :)

Awesome Video Sir !

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Robert 🤙🌿🙏

awesome stuff!

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Cheers Elizabeth!!

are there any projects in the southern states?? i’m going to inherit my family’s cattle ranch in Texas, and i wanna turn it into a regenerative agriculture/rewilding operation

Great video!

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!!!

Thanks!

In the Santa Monaca mountains they would need more natural grazers like bison and elk that clear the brush a bit more so fires don't spread as far and wide.

Fab content. Keep it up

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Chris, got some more videos coming!

Well done! :)

Inspiring content

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

We have a message to spread!

Encouraging to hear about these projects.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Awesome thanks Lynda!

Very interesting and cool video ❤️

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much! 🤙🌿

No mention on how important hunters are to all these projects. Hunters… the first conservationists.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

yes of course, theres many that are important when it comes to landscape scale project like these.

That sounds like a magnificent project!

Fantastic video

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Cheers Jasper.

Great video

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Cheers Average Joe!

Do you know of any rewilding projects around the Great Lakes - either rewilding rivers, wetlands, or lakes that connect to the Great Lakes? Curious and would like to be connected with a group like that as someone who has grown up around the Detroit River / Lake St Clair / St Clair River and Delta (largest freshwater delta on earth!)

The greatest conservation success story in history is the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, it's as perfect as it can be really

Always so great to hear about success stories, gives me hope. It also shows how much promise there is in the US for some vast areas of wilderness, which is very exciting

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

Yes it does, North America is so vast which is essential for ecosystem restoration, there were many more I could of mentioned!

@jamessparkman6604

Жыл бұрын

@@LeaveCurious Don’t know if the people rewilding America thought about this yet seeing as the American bison are almost on the least concern list I bet you can unlock the secrets of the extinct relatives by using the American bison 🧬 Then you can unlock how to make bigger homes and horns Science has pulled a lot of amazing feats in the past but They We’re just a warm-up round for what you can accomplish today

Love your enthusiasm Robb for rewilding. I am perplexed and angry on how some state governments in the US Northwest are over issuing hunting licenses to kill wolf. They find at the end of the hunting season the allocations are far exceeded. I believe this is a concerted effort to eliminate the wolf populations once again. State government is very short sighted.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Yes that is quite concerning. What would be the motivation to eliminate wolf populations?

@markg3025

Жыл бұрын

@@LeaveCurious The state government is under pressure when livestock is killed by wolves. Not everyone is onboard with the wolves and grizzly bears being added back into the eco system.

@guylewis7418

Жыл бұрын

@@LeaveCurious their constituents raise cattle. You lose cattle, and that’s your money. Contrary to what some think, these people DO have a right to exist and to their livelihoods. We do have to consider these people.

@JackycClark

10 ай бұрын

These N.W. US. States are also trying to drill more , use more pipelines and deregulate EPA restrictions .

@wolfbyte2468

8 ай бұрын

@@guylewis7418 They DO deserve to be considered. But scientific studies have shown that killing wolves is not an effective method of decreasing livestock predation. In fact, it makes the remaining wolves rely heavier on the easier-to-kill livestock since they have less packmates to help hunt their natural prey. The best way to decrease livestock predation is for a rancher to get a minimum of 3 livestock guardian dogs (which are not the same as herding dogs) as puppies, and raise among their livestock. These dog breeds, like the Caucasian Shepherd and the Kangal, have been protecting livestock from wolves for centuries, and are VERY good at that job. A study comparing livestock predation by wolves between two randomly selected groups of ranches in the Western US showed that livestock predation in the experimental group occurred MUCH less after giving the ranchers livestock protection dogs than before. In fact, about 50% of those ranchers reported NO instances of livestock predation after receiving the dogs. There are much better solutions available, and more ranchers need to actually use them.

Amazing to see creation returning to it's natural order, even in a small way.

Lovely. Forever wild!

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

:)

Baltimore has gotten pretty wild lately.

So long as it's done with the cooperation of the First Nations, I'm all for any projects going forward.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Yes agreed!

@ANPC-pi9vu

10 ай бұрын

Why should we need them? I mean, it would be the case if we're rewilding reservation land, but outside of reservation land I don't see why it would matter who is doing the rewilding.

@GallowglassVT

10 ай бұрын

@ANPC-pi9vu probably because it's their land, and they know it better than anyone ever will. Also, even if you go by reservation land, that would have to include the land covered by treaty, a good chunk of which isn't owned by First Nations tribes, but the US and Canadian governments.

@ANPC-pi9vu

10 ай бұрын

@@GallowglassVT It's our land now, too, so what is your point? And no, I don't think they 'know it better than any other'. Do you really think, for example, one of the tribes of the South West would know fuck all about Alaska or Flirida or the Smokey Mountains? Come on now. You talk about them like they are some singular entity. You are such a fool, and yet you are so self rightious about your assumptions.

Most of the Virgin and Oldgrowth Forest which have been cut down we're actually hundreds of years old not 150 years old.

American Prarie reserve...what! Hell yeah! I want walk across it!

A video on, the present condition of both the green wall of china, and the restoration of the Lotus plateau /'the yellow river'.

@JackycClark

10 ай бұрын

Different types of mining in China are being done with no regulations . Destroying the environment both near the sites and far down rivers .

I don't believe it's a natural disaster for the wildfires to be so bad. Humans killed all the low land forest which ruined the humidity/low cloud systems, drying out the uplands too much and causing the natural fires to be much worse

Just wondering if any of your projects partner with the Land Back movement to restore lands to their original Indigenous communities?

How wonderful to hear at last, some seriously good news! I have just read how the explosive expansion of deep sea mining is practically inevitable, with the probable extinction of some 5000 to 8000 species, mostly not yet even described!! A glimmer of hope is overdue.....you are doing a fantastic job.

This is the first video of yours that I watch and I have strong feelings. Love love the content, but there's something weird about the filming I cant put my finger on, some shots of you are framed to your chest, but in others you're way up close to the camera and thats a little jarring or maybe there's some weird thing going on with your lens like it looks like its a fisheye but also doesnt, the perspective and depth feel a little off. Idk it all just feels and looks weird but thats just my 2 cents and just the esthetic, Keep talking about awesome rewilding projects ! get in touch with the channel Mossy Earth if you havent already !

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Hey Alex, pleased you’re enjoying the videos. I do play about with the camera a lot, different angles and such, simply to try and keep it engaging. Might be over doing it in this one! It’s a very wide lens, if you get too close to it, it can appear like a fish eye. Yes I talk with Mossy Earth!

Hope there can be more like peatland or wetland restorations.

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

Me too! Amazing habitats

They need beavers in California to provide fire brakes.

I'm a Montananan. American prairie reserve👍

Ireland needs help with trees

Hi!

"Fucking little prarie dog" someones met a Prarie dog

Actually old growth forest can sustain much wildlife.

Quail in east texas! I would let y'all use my land to start! Free of charge!

American Prairie Reserve keeps adding land. Does the Northeast Wilderness Preserve add any land, because 64,000 acres of preserved land over several States is NOT a lot of land.

@ANPC-pi9vu

10 ай бұрын

Honestly, despite all their virtue signaling about the environment, the North Easterners are terrible conservationists. A lot like Calis and Illinoisans.

wolves too

All I want to do with my life is stuff like this. I hope I can get into rewilding somehow

You're ADORABLE ❣️🤴🦁🙏🏞️💋💢👍🐦🍃🍃🍃🍃

If we can get native americans more of thier land back they'll be a huge part of this. I've heard they used to take care of the land so well it could feed thier family's for 4 generations

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

They had it right.

@ANPC-pi9vu

10 ай бұрын

You first. Also, some tribes are rich off drilling and mining and develop their land. Stop generalizing as though the tribes are one people, and stop fetishizing them as 'the noble savages'. It's gross and actually racist.

@JackycClark

10 ай бұрын

​@@ANPC-pi9vu Someone hit a nerve .

@ANPC-pi9vu

10 ай бұрын

@@JackycClark I'm just spitting facts. The people who romanticize the tribes and virtue signal about it are 100% hypocrites who will not practice what they preach.

hiiii

you must bring predators back to control and move the grazing animals

@LeaveCurious

2 жыл бұрын

It will certainly help

Hi

@LeaveCurious

Жыл бұрын

yo!

I love to see a small herd of cloned Woolly Mammoths/CRISPR edited Asian elephants or just Asian elephants in North America, Might not but still love to see it!

@ANPC-pi9vu

10 ай бұрын

That would be terrible. The climate and topography has changed too drasticly from when they were endemic.

You should start to change your town designs. There is really no sensible reason for a small town of 10,000 people to be the size of a 5 million people city. How about not spreading out like cancer? That would be a nice start!