"[A] book which sustained me this year, and seeded some much-needed acreage for hope. . . . This is a book about ecosystem building, about imagining a more beautiful abundance, more life in our lives. It's a book about the fact that it's still possible to heal what's barren or polluted, and that maybe it would be richer, more joyful, and more possible than we imagine, if we could only just begin. . . . [R]ead the book, and remember again the pleasure in saying plant names, in saluting the world, in savoring it. Maybe it will plant some new little seed for you, too.” —Tess Taylor, CNN
“[W]herever you live, there’s a joy in reading Isabella Tree’s detailed descriptions of the flora and fauna that arrived in her vicinity after the rewilding process began . . . [R]eaders . . . will also find an unexpected source of hope." —Tobias Carroll, Literary Hub
"Our species now occupies most of the terrestrial parts of earth and our development projects have vast ecological repercussions. In the Anthropocene, the impact has been and continues to be catastrophic because we lack the humility to recognize we are too ignorant to 'manage' Nature. Isabella Tree’s uplifting story of discovering respect and trust in Nature so she can be helped to reflourish is the paradigm shift needed to begin to rewild the planet." —David Suzuki
"Wilding moved me to tears several times, overcome by the beauty of the rejuvenation it describes, the loss of nature it struggles against, and also by the gorgeous clarity of the writing. Wilding is a crucial, important book for everyone to read, especially in how it pushes back against foundational assumptions we all make about wilderness, nature, and how animals live. It is quite simply one of the best books I’ve ever read." —Jeff VanderMeer
“[F]ans of Roger Deakin, Robert Macfarlane, Nan Shepherd, and other British naturalists will follow right along . . . A fine work of environmental literature that demands a tolerance for detail and should inspire others to follow suit.” —Kirkus
“[W]atching nature return to Knepp through Tree's detailed storytelling is inspiring.”—AC Shilton, Sierra
"By bringing human emotionality to the forefront, Wilding shines a probing light on our relationship with the outdoors." —Forrest Pritchard, Wall Street Journal
"This wonderfully readable book, which is partly a memoir and partly a plan of action, is an inspirational guide for how to 'rewild' a landscape. . . . This honest, thoroughly researched and deeply hopeful book will appeal to everyone—especially farmers—who is concerned about how intensive farming practices are degrading the environment and how to restore nature to ravaged lands.” —Forbes, “Ten of the Best Books About Climate Change, Conservation And The Environment of 2018"
“Wilding is one of the most exhilarating books I know. Knepp Castle is a modern marvel, a wild ancient landscape in a modern domestic country, a place filled with birds and animals leading their own independent and remarkable lives. Isabella Tree, who lives there, tells the rich, complicated story of Knepp. As a writer, Tree is both elegant and deeply informed, and the story is full of poetic awareness and scientific foundations. This story will delight anyone who’s interested in nature, wildlife, and hope.” —Roxana Robinson, author of Sweetwater
“In a story that is part personal memoir, part work of conservation, Tree reveals the capacity of the wild to reclaim the land—as long as humans step out of the way.” —Smithsonian, Ten Best Science Books of 2018
“Wilding is both a timely and important book.” —Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books
“A poignant, practical, and moving story of how to fix our broken land, this should be conservation’s salvation; this should be its future; this is a new hope.” —Chris Packham
“Every farmer (and perhaps every conservationist) in Britain needs to go and spend a day at Knepp. The Knepp 'wilding' project is a vitally important experiment for working out what we can do to let nature back into our farmed landscapes. . . . This book tells this vital story and deserves to be widely read.” —James Rebanks, author of A Shepherd’s Life
“The remarkable story of an astounding transformation.” —George Monbiot
“Isabella Tree’s apparently quixotic tale of Exmoor ponies, longhorn cattle, red deer and Tamworth pigs roaming free on an aristocratic estate is a hugely important addition to the literature of what can be done to restore soil and soul.” —Caspar Henderson, The Guardian
2019-06-30
Let land lie fallow, and things begin to happen. Let 3,500 acres lie fallow, and the world is remade.
The lands around Knepp Castle, in the English district of West Sussex, have been farmed intensively for centuries, and the estate was exhausted and was losing money. Enter the aptly named Tree (The Living Goddess: A Journey Into the Heart of Kathmandu, 2015, etc.) and her husband, Charles Burrell. Three decades ago, they came to the land with a pronounced fondness for mycorrhizae—the invisible, microbial life that teems in healthy soil, fed by decaying plant life, sheltered by tree snags, and the like—and a commitment to do something about the declining populations of species such as the turtledove, whose numbers are "an almost vertical dive" thanks to the wholesale industrial remaking of the British countryside. Tree describes the long, laborious process of turning back time, abandoning deep plowing and mass production in the effort to allow the land to regain some of its former health. And how it does: As she writes, triumphantly, just one sign is the "sixty-two species of bee and thirty species of wasp" that now buzz around locally as well as 76 species of moths and battalions of birds, including herons that "deserted their tree-top roosts in the heronry and were nesting a few feet above the water." The author writes without fear of binomials and with long asides into hard science and deep descriptions of things like soil types and the characteristics of heritage pig species, and fans of Roger Deakin, Robert Macfarlane, Nan Shepherd, and other British naturalists will follow right along. Tree describes a success that she began to chart nearly two decades ago but that has been flourishing since: "The land, released from its cycle of drudgery, seemed to be breathing a sigh of relief. And as the land relaxed, so did we."
A fine work of environmental literature that demands a tolerance for detail and should inspire others to follow suit.
