Funding from American company will see ponds restored in the Velebit rewilding area in Croatia, helping burgeoning local wildlife populations.

Memorandums of cooperation signed with two parks adjacent to the Velebit rewilding area will strengthen and deepen collaboration on wild nature conservation and the ongoing development of a local nature-based economy.

A presentation given at the University of Zagreb last December is part of our commitment to involve more young people in rewilding.

Rewilding Europe and the Forestry Faculty of the University of Zagreb have started a cooperation to enhance the conservation of wild nature, wildlife and wilderness in the Velebit Mountains in Croatia. This cooperation will focus on proclaiming the old-growth forest Ramino Korito as a special reserve and researching the ecology of brown bear to improve its protection.

With official start in January 2012, the Velebit rewilding area is now up and running, seeking opportunities to significantly enhance the local chamois population. All three parks in the area – Northern Velebit National Park, Paklenica National Park, and Velebit Nature Park – see this as a priority. Suitable source populations for restocking exist in various parts of the Balkans (e.g. Montenegro, Serbia, and Bulgaria).

„Look at how the bark beetle influences the spruce forests – the affected trees appear as small islands in the larger forest landscape”. Tea Silic, biologist at the Northern Velebit National Park, shows us around in the park in preparation for the start-up of one of Rewilding Europe’s field projects.