Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Information Request 11095664
How does the council define rewilding?
Devon County Council (DCC) has not developed or adopted any specific definition of rewilding.
Do you have any current or planned policies/initiatives on rewilding? If yes, can you provide details of these?
Given the relatively broad definitions of rewilding that are in common use, it is impossible to provide a precise answer to this question. DCC is involved in many aspects of the management of Devon’s natural environment, both itself and through collaborative initiatives with other organisations. Elements of this would, undoubtedly connect with rewilding to some degree, particularly in the sense of giving prominence to nature recovery and working with natural processes. To give an outline of the types of ways in which DCC is involved in such initiatives, a few examples are listed below:
- Coordinated through the Devon Local Nature Partnership, DCC is supporting the mapping work currently being undertaken via the Devon Wildlife Trust for the planned Nature Recovery Network for Devon. In additional to ongoing staff input, DCC recently provided a grant of £15,000 for this work, as have several other Devon local authorities. This mapping will become integral to the development of a Devon Local Nature Recovery Strategy, which is expected to become a statutory requirement linked to the forthcoming Environment Act. This will plot those areas that should be prioritised for nature recovery, which may include rewilding initiatives where relevant.
- In terms of policy and guidance, our role as Lead Local Flood Authority has an increasing focus on Natural Flood Management (NFM), as set out in our recently reviewed Devon Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and our recently published guidance on NFM. In developing flood defence projects around Devon, we also consider if or how NFM measures might be incorporated into these Some aspects of NFM are strongly focussed on rewilding, such as work being led by the North Devon Biosphere Reserve Team (employed by DCC) in re-creating saltmarsh and other inter-tidal habitats around the fringes of Taw-Torridge estuary. Another example has been our engagement in the River Otter Beaver Trial over the last five years.
- DCC currently has a strong focus on the promotion of tree establishment, both directly and in collaboration with the Devon Local Nature Partnership, the Devon Ash Dieback Resilience Forum and other partnership set-ups. An example of this is our significant financial support for the Saving Devon’s Treescapes project, which is being led by the Devon Wildlife Trust in response to the huge threat from ash dieback and which will include the encouragement of natural regeneration of trees, where appropriate, in addition to their planting and aftercare.
- Whilst DCC may, at times, directly undertake the creation or restoration of wildlife habitats through non-interventionist approaches which might fall under the definition of re-wilding (e.g. through ecological mitigation, compensatory measures or net gain approaches linked to DCC developments), circumstances would normally require us to adopt more highly managed interventions designed to secure a specific objective within a defined timescale in line with planning requirements and public expectations.
To be clear, DCC is not, currently, planning or undertaking any significant or high-profile rewilding initiatives or landscape-scale projects; instead, it forms as an element of our ongoing suite of environmental activities.
To get an idea of the very diverse range of environmental activities undertaken by DCC and how these might overlap with re-wilding principles, please explore the Environment and Landscape pages on the DCC web site
Have you set aside any budget or funding for rewilding?
DCC has not set aside any specific budget or funding for rewilding activities. Instead, any incidental expenditure would be through its ongoing and routine involvement in environmental activities and initiatives, including all of those described by our web pages.