7 ms·

I am currently trying to buy a few acres of land. It's currently grazing land, but I'd like to rewild most of it. By any chance, can someone suggest a good sour

I am currently trying to buy a few acres of land. It's currently grazing land, but I'd like to rewild most of it. By any chance, can someone suggest a good source for learning how to do so in a way that encourages insect, bee, and bird populations? It's near a bog so I'm hoping it can have a bigger impact than it would in isolation.

bbddg 8y ago
You want to look into permaculture. You should check to see if there's any permaculture groups in your area. They will have the best localized experience and will be a huge help.
nikels 8y ago
https://www.amazon.com/Wilding-Return-Nature-British-Farm/dp/1509805095 https://www.amazon.com/Wilding-Return-Nature-British-Farm/dp...
- jfk13 8y ago
  This is a truly awesome project! (It's just a few miles from where I live.)
tyu1000 8y ago
Nature Conservancy in North America, you can try Rewilding Europe in the EU.
ip26 8y ago
I don't know where you live but the USFS has guides on the native species of plants that live in various parts of the US. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/publications/nmpmctn9432.pdf https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/public... https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/CNAP/RevegetationGuide.pdf https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/CNAP/RevegetationGuide.pdf Edit: fixed the links
- maxwell 8y ago
  Both of those links are broken for me.
  - ip26 8y ago
    Fixed, sorry.
pasta 8y ago
I think you should look up Shubhendu Sharma. He is growing forests in 10 years.
GlenTheMachine 8y ago
Generally, Mother Earth News is decent.
dejv 8y ago
You can go as deep as you want, but the basic checklist could be (for case when you don't want to have productive farm land): - make sure there is some type of water on your property, shallow pond would be ok - build different biotopes: leave some pasture area, plant patches of different bushes. - plant some fruit trees and few solitair trees (depending on your geography it might be oak, linden or whatever. Ask at your garden center) - build/buy and place different insect hotels in various parts of property - when mowing the grass always leave some part (say 1/3) intact - I am not familiar with situation in US, but in Europe you can find mixes of wild species seedings for given geography. You can use those to speed up biodiversity growth in the area.
- dejv 8y ago
  ... oh and welcome to the club. For more inspiration you can listen to the Tim Ferriss podcast with Jason Fried (CEO of Basecamp)[1] somwhere at the end of the pocast he is talking his hobby of restoring prairie. [1]https://tim.blog/2018/07/23/jason-fried/ https://tim.blog/2018/07/23/jason-fried/
- CalRobert 8y ago
  Thanks! As it turns out I went sale agreed about 30 minutes after my comment. It's in the Irish midlands and I'll be living there as well in a 210ish year old cottage, which will certainly be a shift. For dealing with the grass I had some idea that sheep might be friendlier than mowing, but sheep also tend to destroy everything in their path and stop seedlings. I was thinking I might try to grow food in this model - http://www.themarketgardener.com/book/ http://www.themarketgardener.com/book/ - but that would be on less than half the space. Clearly I have lots of research to do.
  - Heliosmaster 8y ago
    May I recommend "Practical Self Sufficiency"? A few years ago they even made a British TV-series "It's not easy (being green)": https://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Self-Sufficiency-Complete-Sustainable/dp/1405344415/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539705229&sr=8-1&keywords=dick+strawbridge https://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Self-Sufficiency-Complete...
rcMgD2BwE72F 8y ago
The more I learn about the Anthropocene (aka a global ecological collapse in the making), the more I think it's critical to reduce human footprint. I might consider buying some land (in France) and let nature does it thing. Would that make sense? I wouldn't be able to manage it, does anyone know if there's an organization that could manage the project for me? Perhaps a NGO to which I could donate the land, actually, with the promise to maximize its usefulness not for humans but for the biosphere as a whole?
- tectonic 8y ago
  There are many local land trusts that you can donate to. My father and a local group in Ohio have protected a large amount of land over the last 10 years. Google for land trusts in your area.
- ChristianBundy 8y ago
  Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_to_Defend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_to_Defend
wessorh 8y ago
If you are in California try rbennaton@ucanr.edu
tectonic 8y ago
That’s awesome! Consider putting a conservation easement on the land so future owners also can’t develop it. https://www.google.com/search?q=conservation%20easement https://www.google.com/search?q=conservation%20easement
- CalRobert 8y ago
  Thanks - though that appears to be a US concept? This is in Ireland and tbh its location makes development in the near future unlikely, though it's actually pretty close to rail... Given that there's a thatched cottage from ~1800 on the land it's already subject to a fair number of restrictions, incidentally, though those are all related to heritage.
- rootusrootus 8y ago
  I'm curious what that does to the value of the land. I'd guess it drops it dramatically; the bit of information I found sidestepped answering that question, just mentioning that you'd pay much lower taxes... which I suppose is a roundabout way of saying yes, it kills the value. That may not be a bad thing, of course. But definitely something to keep in consideration.
davem8 8y ago
Check out this farm in the UK. https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/rewilding/rewilding-projects/knepp-estate https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/rewilding/rewilding-proj... This is a great book wrote for the british isles, the design principles it covers would be very useful in a rewilding project https://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Care-Manual-Permaculture-Temperate/dp/185623021X https://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Care-Manual-Permaculture-Temp... And this is a great book if you want to farm sustainably https://www.amazon.co.uk/Growing-Green-Organic-Techniques-Sustainable/dp/0955222516 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Growing-Green-Organic-Techniques-Su...

bbddg 8y ago

You want to look into permaculture. You should check to see if there's any permaculture groups in your area. They will have the best localized experience and will be a huge help.

nikels 8y ago

https://www.amazon.com/Wilding-Return-Nature-British-Farm/dp/1509805095 https://www.amazon.com/Wilding-Return-Nature-British-Farm/dp...

jfk13 8y ago
This is a truly awesome project! (It's just a few miles from where I live.)

tyu1000 8y ago

Nature Conservancy in North America, you can try Rewilding Europe in the EU.

ip26 8y ago

I don't know where you live but the USFS has guides on the native species of plants that live in various parts of the US. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/publications/nmpmctn9432.pdf https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/public... https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/CNAP/RevegetationGuide.pdf https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/CNAP/RevegetationGuide.pdf Edit: fixed the links

maxwell 8y ago
Both of those links are broken for me.
- ip26 8y ago
  Fixed, sorry.

pasta 8y ago

I think you should look up Shubhendu Sharma. He is growing forests in 10 years.

GlenTheMachine 8y ago

Generally, Mother Earth News is decent.

dejv 8y ago

You can go as deep as you want, but the basic checklist could be (for case when you don't want to have productive farm land): - make sure there is some type of water on your property, shallow pond would be ok - build different biotopes: leave some pasture area, plant patches of different bushes. - plant some fruit trees and few solitair trees (depending on your geography it might be oak, linden or whatever. Ask at your garden center) - build/buy and place different insect hotels in various parts of property - when mowing the grass always leave some part (say 1/3) intact - I am not familiar with situation in US, but in Europe you can find mixes of wild species seedings for given geography. You can use those to speed up biodiversity growth in the area.

dejv 8y ago
... oh and welcome to the club. For more inspiration you can listen to the Tim Ferriss podcast with Jason Fried (CEO of Basecamp)[1] somwhere at the end of the pocast he is talking his hobby of restoring prairie. [1]https://tim.blog/2018/07/23/jason-fried/ https://tim.blog/2018/07/23/jason-fried/
CalRobert 8y ago
Thanks! As it turns out I went sale agreed about 30 minutes after my comment. It's in the Irish midlands and I'll be living there as well in a 210ish year old cottage, which will certainly be a shift. For dealing with the grass I had some idea that sheep might be friendlier than mowing, but sheep also tend to destroy everything in their path and stop seedlings. I was thinking I might try to grow food in this model - http://www.themarketgardener.com/book/ http://www.themarketgardener.com/book/ - but that would be on less than half the space. Clearly I have lots of research to do.
- Heliosmaster 8y ago
  May I recommend "Practical Self Sufficiency"? A few years ago they even made a British TV-series "It's not easy (being green)": https://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Self-Sufficiency-Complete-Sustainable/dp/1405344415/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539705229&sr=8-1&keywords=dick+strawbridge https://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Self-Sufficiency-Complete...

rcMgD2BwE72F 8y ago

The more I learn about the Anthropocene (aka a global ecological collapse in the making), the more I think it's critical to reduce human footprint. I might consider buying some land (in France) and let nature does it thing. Would that make sense? I wouldn't be able to manage it, does anyone know if there's an organization that could manage the project for me? Perhaps a NGO to which I could donate the land, actually, with the promise to maximize its usefulness not for humans but for the biosphere as a whole?

tectonic 8y ago
There are many local land trusts that you can donate to. My father and a local group in Ohio have protected a large amount of land over the last 10 years. Google for land trusts in your area.
ChristianBundy 8y ago
Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_to_Defend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_to_Defend

wessorh 8y ago

If you are in California try rbennaton@ucanr.edu

tectonic 8y ago

That’s awesome! Consider putting a conservation easement on the land so future owners also can’t develop it. https://www.google.com/search?q=conservation%20easement https://www.google.com/search?q=conservation%20easement

CalRobert 8y ago
Thanks - though that appears to be a US concept? This is in Ireland and tbh its location makes development in the near future unlikely, though it's actually pretty close to rail... Given that there's a thatched cottage from ~1800 on the land it's already subject to a fair number of restrictions, incidentally, though those are all related to heritage.
rootusrootus 8y ago
I'm curious what that does to the value of the land. I'd guess it drops it dramatically; the bit of information I found sidestepped answering that question, just mentioning that you'd pay much lower taxes... which I suppose is a roundabout way of saying yes, it kills the value. That may not be a bad thing, of course. But definitely something to keep in consideration.

davem8 8y ago

Check out this farm in the UK. https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/rewilding/rewilding-projects/knepp-estate https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/rewilding/rewilding-proj... This is a great book wrote for the british isles, the design principles it covers would be very useful in a rewilding project https://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Care-Manual-Permaculture-Temperate/dp/185623021X https://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Care-Manual-Permaculture-Temp... And this is a great book if you want to farm sustainably https://www.amazon.co.uk/Growing-Green-Organic-Techniques-Sustainable/dp/0955222516 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Growing-Green-Organic-Techniques-Su...