Rewilding Scotland | Full Documentary

Scotland the most forested and least populated part of the United Kingdom but the existing woodland is only a tiny fraction of the forests of the past and many of the species that once inhabited them are missing now there are calls to restore the forests and the animals that once lived in them to their former glory it's dying the countryside is dying our woodlands are dead it's about restarting the clock the clock of evolution but rewilding on such a scale could not only affect the landscape but also the lives of those who live and work in it the people are living in these areas that people are worrying in these areas they need a voice it needs involvement from people on the ground right from the start we've got to live in the country so you can't forget the people so what are the arguments and will it ever really be possible to re wild Scotland the Caledonian forest originally covered much of the highlands and was home to a wide range of species including the beaver wild war Lynx elk brown bear and the wolf as well as creatures still present today it was a vast primeval wilderness but after centuries of deforestation today less than 1% of original forest remains and the widespread introduction of sheep and intensive grazing by an increased deer population has put a halt on the natural regeneration of the forest today several organizations and individuals are working to re wild Scotland but what does rewilding actually mean and why are people doing it rewilding is a classic use of a word that means different things to different people dr. dick Val Harry has a lifetime's experience working for wild land and all its inhabitants including people in my view the very thing about rewilding means that there will be an attempt to go back in time can't go past it must go forward we can only go forward and in doing so we need to use economic the environment and the social pillars in order to do that and all the time we will be depending on people rewilding for me is really all about giving some of the planet back to our fellow species one organization working to re wild Scotland is trees for life executive director Alan Watson Featherstone hopes that in the future 30 to 40 percent of Scotland could once again be covered in natural woodland so for me there's no choice if we want to have a viable future for all those other species and ultimately for humans as well we have to step back from controlling the whole planet and allowing nature and the process of evolution to continue it's not about turning any clock back and creating some sort of museum piece it's about restarting the clock talk of evolution which came to a grinding halt here you know depending where you look in the highlands several hundred years ago rewilding is also a tree walling ourselves Peter Taylor is an ecological consultant and co-founder of the wild land Network an organization set up to further the concepts and development of wild land in Britain rewilding isn't just about the wild areas and reintroducing wild species it's also about people in towns being able to walk into a vibrant countryside to be inspired and that it's it's it's dying the countryside is dying I think rewilding is a phrase that's caught on quite a lot recently and it's it's about trying to put nature first in front of people Paul Lister is the owner of the Allerdale wilderness reserve a twenty three thousand acre estate northwest of Inverness since his arrival to the estate in 2003 Paul's team has made great strides in rewilding the land several hundred thousand native species of tree have been planted with another two hundred thousand due to be planted over the next 18 months he's also introduced elk and wild boar into large enclosures but ala Dale has made their headlines for different reasons like others for Paul the true restoration of the forest won't be complete without the reintroduction of the other species that once lived there in particular large predators be wonderful to see wolves and bears back in the area but if it doesn't happen all I know is it uh there will be a far richer place anyway in regards the biodiversity so it'll be richer but it won't be as rich as if we had natural forces here instead of having people go out with rifles and have to shoot deer for us it's really crucial to look at the forest not just as trees but as a whole ecosystem and that includes everything from fungi and microorganisms in the soil all the way up to the large mammals most of which are absent in Scotland today they all fulfill a crucial role in the ecosystem so if we are talking about forest restoration which is what our work is about we have to have all the species back in place again our woodlands are dead we've we've lost these major predators roy dennis has spent all his working life in conservation and has been a leading player in the reintroduction of several species in scotland including the red kite and white-tailed sea eagle one i think we should just you know have as rich an environment as we can secondly i think that if we've killed out species and we can put them back we should i think the problem is that too often we've removed the big predators and that means that the kind of the whole ecological system is not working because we removed the kind of you know the major components that controlled some of the some of the other species that are below them formerly meat of species have a role to play in an ecosystem dr. David Harrington has carried out extensive research into the history of the Eurasian Lynx in Britain and its suitability for reintroduction into Scotland when you remove that animal from the ecosystem you're talking about not just the loss of that animal but about the loss of a function so some animals for example ate beavers you know they create wetlands and of course large predators are killing deer year round not just hunting seasons but year round in the forest and they're leading what they don't eat on the forest floor and so you know when we take these species away we are removing a function which has knock-on effects for a whole variety of other species whether it's plants or animals scotland's no stranger to species reintroduction following large-scale deforestation red squirrels became extinct in parts of Scotland and were reintroduced from England in the 1840s more recently species including the red kite the white-tailed seagull and the European beaver have also been returned the red squirrel is thriving once again in many parts of Scotland but the reintroductions haven't all been easy the beaver red kite and white-tailed seagull programs have all encountered opposition and the Raptors in some areas have become victims of persecution with other species on the horizon is it right to reintroduce an animal that has been gone so long we have to find they was animal native in the past and why did it die out because we need to know whether the factors that caused its original extinction are still operating and if they are then to try and reintroduce it would be unethical because the animals just simply going to die out again and you could argue that there's a real welfare implication for the animals involved you also need to think about what sort of impacts that species is going to have and it's everything that's been restored to the environment you know are they going to have socio-economic impacts will they affect livelihoods both positively and negatively I suppose and what impacts will they have another species as well despite its absence since medieval times it's the Eurasian Lynx that many think could fit back into Scotland with the least negative impact I think the Lynx is a shining example of how an animal can be quietly reintroduced to human landscapes we get the ecological benefits we've got some of the socio-economic benefits as well in that undoubtedly being a large quite sexy predator if you like they're going to be an icon for the wildlife tourism industry they do perform at an ecological function which has a socio-economic benefit in that they're helping to control deer populations and something that we tend to forget about large carnivores as well as killing large herbivores they do kill smaller carnivores and lynx predation on foxes has been Assurant in some places to have really quite strong ecological impacts by allowing smaller species of grown nesting birds to escape and the pressures of heavy foxfox predation well the lengths is a really good example is not only just a place but there's a reason for having it it's not just the actual killing of deer it's some movement of those deer so that once links are back the deer are moving in different ways have to be more careful so therefore the vegetation is less damaged by deer I think if we are in Britain going to be real players in nature conservation in the world and the maintenance of the global ecosystem they're not to bring back the Lynx is just failing to address the needs of conservation in this country looking at the Scottish landscape but from a biological point of view an ecological point of view it's clear to me that animals like beavers wild boar and Lynx could live quite happily in the Scottish environment today if it weren't for but of course if they're humans but it's humans who will ultimately decide whether or not to reintroduce such species there are many forests in Scotland where the Lynx could fit in with minimum minimum impact on the local people but at the same time that people are living in these areas that people are working in these areas they need a voice and if they approve then the chances are giving that animal in this case a lynx the opportunity to having a safe and a healthy life could be possibility certainly within the near future I think there is a massive job to be done and having a meaningful dialogue with people and looking at ways of making sure that these animals can live cheek-by-jowl with humans and their economic activities and look at ways of time to solve max it maximise acceptance of these animals because while the suitability of the Scottish countryside for a whole range of extinct species is undoubtedly good what is really important is looking at the socio economics because you know if an animal is going to have an impact on my vision I think it would be wrong to reintroduce it I always think it's very difficult when you introduce something high up the chain because you don't know the impact it will have your father father down there father down the line Lachlan McLane has experienced the reintroduction of a predator firsthand his farm sits in white-tailed seagull territory on the Isle of Mull and although he's adopted some of his farming practices to accommodate the sea Eagles presence he has concerns for the reintroduction of larger predators certainly the the seagulls I think they actually adapt to their environment so there's no way that anyone can guarantee that you're going to have our a specific outcome so from that point of view I would have concerns and just how things would pan out the people on the ground need to still be able to manage the land and go about their work Allister McLennan farms in the heart of the Cairngorms he shares the concerns of many in the rural community that his voice won't be heard and his livelihood could be put at risk if predators such as the Lynx were to return I think these things go on without the involvement of farmers and at the initial stage and it needs involvement from people on the ground right from the start whatever we're talking about if it's going to impact on them they need to be involved I think what we need or I would need would be to make sure that it's adequately assessed the impact of it and then you go from there and you need to allow management measures so that if they are at a problem maybe you have to you know shoot a lynx of a sort of your problem in these areas we are working with such marginal land we are very poor a returns on your when on your own and income we are in a very fragile fragile area so a small impact can actually have a large effect on your on the farming communities you've got of the people who get and the fingernails involved with these things Alex Hogg has been a gamekeeper since he left school age 16 he like many other gamekeepers is passionate about conservation but fears that the reintroduction of predators could compromise many people's livelihoods we've got to love in the countryside you can't forget the people people have got to live there and they've got to loving there and I got to bring an end comment to rural communities and the schools are got to stay open I'm there you know kids have got to keep coming back to stop weaving nylons and all that's clearly on so we need a vibrant rubber bolt school got to think of things apart from the way of life love alongside it but you know let's try and make let's try and keep a balance if you if you only got that balance you're going to feel if I'm looking to bring back wolves into an area I have to have a track record along the way or bringing in visited the air and giving jobs because it's the people in the community it's people in the area they're going to ultimately decide on where this project happens and if I don't have a track record of employment and sustainable employment then the big vision won't happen the physical impact of predators may be the cause of many of our concerns about reintroducing these species but is our hesitation to welcome such creatures back to our land just as much to do with our psychological relationship with them as it is physical in many cases it's not necessarily the animal itself but it's what the animal represents and the animal being restored be it's Eagles be at pine martens be wolves represents change and very often represents change forced upon people who don't necessarily want that changed Peter Cairns is a nature photographer and co-founder of tooth and claw an impartial education and communication initiative using photography to explore our attitudes towards and perceptions of Britain's predators people don't like change as a species we don't readily accept it and I think if you're a grouse Moor keeper or a sheep farmer or a pheasant pheasant keeper or whatever it happens to be you know either there are issues of economics but more often than not there are issues of control you know there's this perception that their control of the given land is going to be compromised in some way and that you know the livelihoods are going to be undermined by this change that's very often perceived as being forced upon them by external forces we're still away from a good way from relating to the animal and pine kingdoms in the way that our ancestors did I think we've actually lost some consciousness in our relationship to nature if we could reconnect our young people to nature in a more spiritual way and then we would stand some chance of turning this all around maybe we should be thinking differently about the way humans interact with wildlife and that it really disappoints me when people have the arrogant attitude that everything should be just nice and tame and organized and clean and clinical and everything should be just perfect but people I'm saying forget about that what about actually letting nature have have a part play for Paul the completion of his wilderness reserve at ala doe has added obstacles he plans to create a fenced controlled reserve of a minimum size of fifty thousand acres and introduce wolves and brown bears to live alongside prey species such as deer my vision would be to see a scientific research program going on and watching the processes between these walls and the prey species and so doing that would create a lot of jobs for the local rural communities here in respective ecotourism Paul's vision has been met with much opposition largely to do with it compromising right to roam access but it's also been welcomed by some as a testing ground for what could be possible in other areas of Scotland if it could work it seems to me wrong and that there wouldn't be a chance for something like this to be tried in Scotland I think our Dale is an interesting experiment and I think it's good it's happening because he's got he's been very good at getting a lot of publicity and it's really brought the issue into the forefront of many people's awareness that it wouldn't perhaps have been but as a rewilding experiment it's it's a stepping stone along the way but it's not the end result regardless of background or profession all who work and live in rural Scotland are striving towards the same goal a vibrant Scottish countryside for people and nature the wild species that people once removed may be ready to return but it's the people who will have to decide if they are ready to re wild Scotland I just think it would be a real demonstration that we can do some big positive projects it may just become unacceptable for Britain not to play its part in a global strategy for ecological restoration we don't need to be a victim of the past we can actually choose to create a healthier more vibrant future one which is abundant again for wildlife for forests and for people is the biodiversity that we should all be focusing on not just the bits of Scotland that we're interested in Scotland plays a very important part with being an example we can afford to do we must do and every individual that lives in Scotland's to visit Scotland I hope they contribute to you

Channel: Together TV

Views: 197,028

Rating: 4.9009614 out of 5

Keywords: TV, stories, activism, amazing, change, do, something, brilliant, celebrity, volunteering, scotland, rewilding, together tv, together, scotland animals, full documentary

Id: RInYnVCAo1w

Length: 20min 33sec (1233 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 18 2015