Rewilding efforts in the Rhodope Mountains expand to a new site
Rewilding in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria is about to take an exciting step forward, with the local rewilding team preparing to carry out a wide range of measures in a new area.
Rewilding in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria is about to take an exciting step forward, with the local rewilding team preparing to carry out a wide range of measures in a new area.
A second group of cinereous vultures has just been released in the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria. Reinforcing the population already present in the area, the birds will strengthen the local circle of life, help to restore wild nature, and deliver benefits to communities in and around the rewilding landscape.
In the Rhodope Mountains, agricultural subsidies are promoting the intensification of grazing, which is negatively impacting nature and local rewilding efforts. The local team are determined to keep advocating rural policies that allow people to make better use of the socio-economic benefits that rewilding can provide.
“The Circle of Life in the Rhodope Mountains”, a 12-minute documentary by Emmanuel Rondeau, tells the hopeful story of rewilding in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria. At the beginning of November, a well-attended premiere in the town of Kardzhali helped the local rewilding team engage a wide range of stakeholders.
In the middle of June, a second group of cinereous vultures were translocated to the Rhodope Mountains rewilding landscape in Bulgaria. Their arrival and eventual release is the next step in a long-term programme to re-establish these ecologically important birds as a breeding species.
A long-term release programme means populations of red and fallow deer in Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains are gradually recovering. As the landscape becomes wilder and healthier, there are benefits for local communities too.
Populations of vultures and other raptors in the Balkans still face a range of threats, with illegal poisoning top of the list. The reintroduction of cinereous vultures in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria throws a spotlight on these threats, but also offers hope for the future.
Following efforts to ensure they stay, survive and thrive in the local landscape, a group of 14 cinereous vultures have just been released into Bulgaria’s Eastern Rhodope Mountains. This will help to strengthen the circle of life and represents another step towards realising the local rewilding vision.
As part of their Master’s degree in Forest and Nature conservation at Wageningen University & Research, students Lucy Dötig and Fleur Bokma did a six months internship this year with Rewilding Europe, investigating habitat suitability for fallow deer, red deer and European bison in the Rhodope Mountains Rewilding Landscape. We checked in with them recently to see how they have been getting on.
Three female bison have just arrived in the Rhodope Mountains rewilding landscape in Bulgaria. They will soon join the area’s free-roaming bison herd, boosting its health and viability and positively impacting local wild nature.