'Best chance we have': Wild bison will return to the UK for the first time in 6,000 years
For the first time in 6,000 years, wild bison will be returning to the UK — in a project aimed at helping restore the ecosystem of ancient British woodlands.
The £1.1 million “Wilder Blean” project ($1.4 million), funded by a European donor organization and launched by two British conservation charities, consists of releasing a small herd of the endangered species during the spring of 2022.
According to The Guardian, the bison will come from the Netherlands or Poland, and the initial release will include one male and three females. Natural breeding will hopefully increase the herd's size in the coming years.
“This award means we can now take an important step towards reversing the terrifying rate of species loss in the UK," said Paul Hadaway, Director of Conservation at Kent Wildlife Trust, one of the conservation charities, in a statement.
"The Wilder Blean project will prove that a wilder, nature-based solution is the right one to tackling the climate and nature crisis we now face. Using missing keystone species like bison to restore natural processes to habitats is the key to creating bio-abundance in our landscape.”
A 2019 State of Nature Report found that species in the UK are declining at their fastest rate in thousands of years. The Guardian says populations of the some of the country's most important wildlife fell by an average of 60% since 1970.
Modern European bison are the closest living relative to the now extinct bison that roamed the UK several thousand years ago. Kent Wildlife Trust says today's wild bison "are the best chance we have of restoring the function which was lost when the earlier species went extinct."
According to Wildwood Trust, the other conservation charity co-launching the project, a bison "is known as an 'ecosystem engineer' because of its ability to create and improve habitats for other species."
This is in part due to the bison's diet and habits. Bison eat bark, and rub against trees to remove their winter coats.
The eating of bark kills trees — creating sunny clearings for plants, and new homes for insects that live in deadwood, which are then sources of food for birds and other mammals. In addition, bison fur catches seeds — which are dispersed when their winter coats are rubbed off on trees.
“The partners in this project have long dreamt of restoring the true wild woodlands that have been missing from England for too long," stated Paul Whitfield, Director General of Wildwood Trust.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wild bison will be returning to UK for the first time in 6,000 years
