Is Rewilding an Option in Ireland?

Climate Crisis and Biodiversity Loss in Ireland

Climate change and biodiversity loss are the defining environmental crises of our time. They are not looming on the horizon - they are here reshaping the natural systems we depend on. The science is sobering. According to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report the past decade is likely the hottest in at least 125,000 years. Meanwhile the WHO warns that biodiversity is vanishing at rates 10 to 100 times higher than natural background levels - driven by land-use change, deforestation, pollution, climate disruption and invasive species.

In Ireland the ecological picture is equally grim. The EPA’s 2024 State of the Environment report found that 85% of our protected habitats are in an unfavourable condition. Over half of our native plant species are in decline and more than 50 bird species are now of high conservation concern. Our annual average temperature has risen by about 1°C since the early 20th century with 16 of the 20 warmest years occurring since 1990. This is not a fringe issue - it is a foundational one.

Faced with these intersecting crises there is growing urgency around how we repair our ecosystems - not just for nature’s sake but for our own. Among the most talked-about strategies is rewilding - a term that evokes powerful emotions, images and debates.

But here in Ireland - with our history of small-scale farming, deeply managed landscapes and fragmented habitats - a critical question arises: Is rewilding really an option?

What is Rewilding, Really?

The term “rewilding” was born in the 1990s, coined by conservationists in the American West who envisioned reintroducing large predators such as wolves to vast wilderness areas to restore ecological balance. The idea caught on globally, evolving into a broader philosophy that involves giving land back to nature, reducing human interference and allowing ecosystems to regulate themselves.

In theory, rewilding can include removing dams, letting rivers run freely, reintroducing extinct species or abandoning farmland to let natural succession unfold. In practice, it often means restoring “trophic cascades” - the natural checks and balances provided by species interactions that keep ecosystems functioning.

Rewilding in Action: Global Case Studies

In Europe, large-scale rewilding has gained traction in places with declining rural populations and abundant open land. The Rewilding Europe initiative now supports projects in ten major regions - from Portugal’s Côa Valley to the Velebit Mountains in Croatia.

Podcast host and rewilding documentarian James Shooter, through his excellent series The Rewild Podcast, has visited many of these sites documenting their triumphs and challenges. His work brings to life rewilding projects like the Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands - a bold experiment in self-regulating grazing that faced major backlash and public controversy due to animal welfare concerns. The Iberá Wetlands in Argentina - where reintroducing apex predators like jaguars has dramatically revived ecological health. Scotland’s Affric Highlands - where Trees for Life and Alladale Wilderness Reserve are re-establishing native woodlands and reintroducing species like the Scottish wildcat.

Shooter's work is vital because it tells the whole story - not just the utopian vision but the political, economic and ecological complexity behind it.

Rewilding in the Irish Context

To answer whether rewilding is viable in Ireland we have to reckon with our cultural and geographic realities. Ireland’s landscape is not made up of empty glens and unused wilderness. It is a mosaic of small landholding, fields, hedgerows, bogs, townlands and farms - nearly all of it touched by human hands for millennia.

Rewilding in the purest sense - meaning no human management - is difficult if not impossible here. The idea of withdrawing entirely from the land poses real problems in a country where over 135,000 farmers manage over 4.5 million hectares. Our land is not just ecologically significant - it is socially, economically and culturally embedded.

Moreover, there is no agreed baseline to restore to. Are we aiming for the post-glacial wildwood of 10,000 years ago? The oak-hazel forests of the Iron Age? The pre-Famine landscape? This is the problem of shifting baselines - each generation accepts a degraded state as normal making restoration targets slippery.

Among Irish farmers rewilding can feel threatening. It conjures images of land being taken out of production, of being blamed for environmental decline or pushed into schemes they don’t trust. These fears are not irrational - they stem from a history of top-down conservation, of ill-fitting EU policies and of media narratives that often pit farming against nature.

Rewilding vs. Restoration: A Farmer’s Perspective

As a farmer myself I understand this fear. But I also believe that we can’t ignore nature’s decline and that farmers must be central to any serious restoration plan. What’s needed is clear language, real-world examples and practical support.

At Fernwood Farm we’ve been involved in blanket bog restoration, native woodland planting and regenerative grazing trials. We are restoring habitats, improving biodiversity and drawing carbon back into soils. But this isn’t rewilding - not in the romantic sense.

We intervene regularly - to control invasives, manage grazing, protect saplings, monitor water levels. What we’re doing is nature restoration: a form of assisted recovery that gives ecosystems a fighting chance while still working with them.

This approach is often called ‘passive rewilding’ especially in policy documents. A recent study by AgriLand highlighted its feasibility in Ireland pointing out that many former grazing lands could naturally revert to scrub and woodland with minimal input. But even the study noted that passive rewilding still requires long-term oversight particularly in landscapes overrun with deer or rhododendron or degraded by decades of drainage.

At a governmental level rewilding is rarely used as an official term. Instead, the conversation centres around nature restoration, habitat rehabilitation and rewetting - especially under the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the proposed Nature Restoration Law.

In Ireland the law has met mixed responses - welcomed by many environmental groups but viewed with suspicion by some rural communities. Misinformation and political miscommunication haven’t helped. The narrative too often becomes one of imposition rather than cooperation.

What’s needed is honest dialogue - and the recognition that most landowners want to be part of the solution. But they need tools, incentives and language that respects the work they already do.

Finding Common Ground Between Farming and Restoration

There is a myth - often repeated - that farming and restoration are mutually exclusive. I reject that.

Regenerative farming, with its emphasis on soil health, biodiversity, low-input systems and carbon sequestration, is a powerful tool for ecological repair. It doesn’t replace rewilding or restoration - it complements them.

On a national scale regenerative agriculture can form the buffer zones that make core wild areas more viable. It can stitch fragmented habitats back together and provide stepping-stones for wildlife across human landscapes.

At Fernwood we are seeing these principles at work. Our land is more alive than it was five years ago. There are more birds, more insects, more colour in the emergent woodland. Our bog hold water longer. Our trees are growing stronger. The change isn’t dramatic - it’s slow, seasonal, cumulative. But it’s real.

What Makes Rewilding Work?

Returning to the European context James Shooter’s podcast reveals another key insight: not all rewilding projects succeed - and those that do often succeed because of careful planning and community buy-in.

Take the Oostvaardersplassen: touted in the early 2000s as a rewilding success story it spiralled into controversy when unmanaged animal populations led to mass winter starvation. Public outcry forced interventions showing that “letting nature take its course” doesn’t always align with public expectations or animal welfare norms.

Compare that to Scotland where decades of partnership between communities, NGOs and landowners have fostered projects like Cairngorms Connect - a 200-year vision for restoring a mosaic of habitats across 60,000 hectares.

The takeaway is clear: rewilding works best when people are included not excluded. Success requires local leadership, adaptive management and trust.

So … is rewilding actually feasible in Ireland?

In the purist sense - of complete human withdrawal and large predator reintroduction - probably not. We simply don’t have the scale or the cultural context. But nature restoration? Absolutely. And urgently.

This can take many forms: blanket bog rewetting to restore carbon sinks, native woodland regeneration to rebuild habitat networks, agri-environment schemes that pay farmers to steward biodiversity, community-led initiatives to rewild rivers, wetlands and coastal zones.

What matters is not the label but the outcome: healthier land, more biodiversity and climate resilience built into the landscape.

At Fernwood we’re not trying to recreate the wildwood. We are trying to honour what remains, restore what’s possible and inspire others to do the same.

If you’re curious - whether as a farmer, a conservationist or just a concerned citizen - I invite you to visit us, walk the land and see what this kind of work looks like up close.

We don’t need to rewild Ireland in the grand, theatrical sense. But we do need to heal it - with thought, with care and with each other.

That journey has already begun.