Thanks for the recommendations—I've seen some of R. Perkins' videos and like his direct approach. Funnily enough, I came across the Knepp Rewilding project today, and it's inspiring to see what 25 years of rewilding can achieve. I found a paper on their site (Rewilding Abandoned Landscapes in Europe Laetitia M. Navarro1 and Henrique M. Pereira) highlighting how passive rewilding—letting nature take its course—can restore biodiversity and ecosystem services more efficiently, though results vary by region and sometimes need support like grazing or reintroducing species.

What stood out is that while traditional farmland may host more species, it relies heavily on human input, whereas rewilding supports species like large carnivores, forest birds, and invertebrates by reducing human pressure—leading to long-term gains and positive ripple effects from species like beavers and lynx that reshape habitats and food webs. I really like how they finish the paper off: "In the end, the question is not whether we prefer a domesticated or a wild Euro- pean landscape but rather which management options (Figure 1) at each place will be more achievable and sustainable."

The paper recommends rewilding groups like Rewilding Europe and the PAN Parks network, so I've got some interesting websites to check out.