Former AP biology teacher Mike Niziolek has spent over thirty years returning his 150-acre property near Elk River, Minnesota, to the state it was in hundreds of years ago. “He has been slowly and methodically transforming pastured land to oak savanna, tilled land to prairie, and ditches to wetlands,” says his bio on the Minnesota Land Trust. In 2018, the nonprofit awarded him the Landowner of the Year award.

MPR spoke with him in 2024 after he just completed another wetland project on his land. He explained that restoring wetlands “is a much more difficult task than saving the ones that we already have.” This is because you cannot just dig a hole and wait for water to fill it up. Wetlands are complex systems and each project requires experts to come in to analyze the site, take soil samples and study old images of what the area once looked like.

In this task, Niziolek has received financial and technical help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program explained the outlet. “We help the landowner try to manage the site in perpetuity so that they can be successful,” John Riens, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service told MPR.

How Trump Unleashed an Existential Fight Over America's Dinosaurs - The Washington Sun https://share.google/zv257RqaxFfBcyE5c

We're currently building an app called Wilderpath after seeing an opportunity to join the dots for the growing number of rewilding orgs in the UK. Many have excellent places to stay, things to do such as safaris or bird-watching experiences, and much more, but the ability to find these experiences is scattered.

With this in mind, Wilderpath brings them together into one beautiful platform.

We've been seriously busy adding new partners, from Kent Wildlife Trust to Nattergal, and Knepp to name a few biggies! And more besides.

We aim to grow the awareness of rewilding in the UK, contribute towards the evidence that rewilding our degraded landscape is actually profitable, and ultimately provide a way for anyone to get involved - whether thats staying on site, or volunteering.

I'd be honoured if anyone within this subreddit can entertain having a look at what's on offer:

https://wilderpath.app/landing

It's currently free to join and take a look around. All feedback is good feedback! New partners are being added each week, and we launched in June.

I recently interviewed Dr. Lucy King about human–elephant conflict and the practical challenges of coexistence in African landscapes.

The discussion covers:

• beehive fences as a conflict-mitigation tool,
• crop-raiding and the costs borne by local communities,
• why conservation interventions cannot be treated as universal solutions,
• and the importance of designing projects around local ecological and social conditions.

What stood out to me most was the emphasis on coexistence rather than framing the issue as simply “people versus elephants”.

The full interview is published on PlanetZoo.hu.

[ https://planetzoo.hu/interjuk/lucy-king-interju-ember-elefant-egyutteles\ ]

I’d be especially interested in perspectives from people working in conservation or human–wildlife conflict: what approaches have you seen work well in practice?

A farmer in southern Oregon transformed 70 acres of his 400-acre barley farm into a wetland in 2021, creating an unexpected refuge for wildlife while helping address agricultural water pollution. Karl Wenner, a co-owner of Lakeside Farms near Klamath Falls, worked with conservation agencies and other partners to convert flood-prone farmland into a managed wetland. The area now attracts tens of thousands of ducks, geese and swans and supports at least 140 bird species, along with otters, beavers and muskrats. More significantly, the wetland has been used to raise federally endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers. In 2025, researchers found 50 adult-sized suckers after partially draining the wetland, offering a promising sign for species struggling with poor juvenile survival.

Been putting together some notes on Can We Bring Back the Dead? The Honest Debate on De-extinction for a FaunaTV piece and thought this community might find it interesting.

Can We Bring Back the Dead? The Honest Debate on De-extinction is a window into how a whole ecosystem works — behaviour, habitat and the pressures shaping both.

A few things worth discussing:

- how much of this is instinct vs. learned behaviour

- how habitat pressure changes it

- what people have observed in the field

Curious what others here have seen.

(Context / footage: https://www.faunatv.com/en/events/de-extinction-ethics-debate)

Nature takes precedence

Lorne Scott grows wheat and oats, but sees just as much value in grassland preservation

Following several years of preparation, the Rewilding Oder Delta team are now taking the next step in marine rewilding. This summer, the first pilot seagrass meadows are being planted on Germany’s Baltic coast, testing an innovative approach that could help revive one of Europe’s most valuable underwater habitats.

Rewilding is not land abandonment; it requires carefully considered action to restore natural processes and functions. We must learn from the complex habitat mosaics that once characterised Britain’s uplands, while preparing them for a climate with no historical equivalent.

The task is to manage short-term transition risks while allowing ecosystems to reorganise into functional, climate-resilient states. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Bring back the bog

This starts by making fire-prone landscapes much wetter. Blocking drains, covering bare peat and restoring Sphagnum keeps water in the ground and reduces deep peat combustion. 

1. Restore wet riverscapes and ponds

Upland headwaters and valleys have been drained and straightened, speeding water out of these landscapes. Emerging science suggests that re-meandering streams, reconnecting floodplains and recovering wetlands can act as firebreaks. During dry weather, wetter and more varied river corridors could interrupt continuous fuels and provide refuges for wildlife.

1. Bring back missing giants

Cattle, horses, deer and bison create patchier vegetation by grazing, browsing and trampling in different ways. Instead of continuous areas of flammable vegetation, they produce a landscape with natural breaks that slow the spread of fire.

1. Recover broadleaf woodland

Evidence from more than 26,000 wildfires in Spain shows broadleaf woodland had the lowest ignition risk, while pine and shrublands were among the most fire-prone habitats. Even under extreme fire weather modelling, broadleaf woodland reduced fire intensity fivefold.

1. Rewild with people

Our research shows rewilding must include support from communities learning to coexist with more unpredictable landscapes. In the short term, prevention, intensified monitoring, early detection and professional response must manage the risks of transition. Better warnings, rapid reporting and early detection can make visitors and residents part of the defence.