Yorkshire Rewilding Festival: Strengthening connections with the natural world and supporting nature recovery in the region

"If we all add our own small bits to the planet or to the land, together we can create something beautiful,” she adds.

Samantha is a trustee of Yorkshire Rewilding Network, a charity established in August 2020 to connect, inspire and enable rewilding throughout Yorkshire.

This summer, it is holding the first Yorkshire Rewilding Festival, aiming to create an opportunity for a wider audience to explore rewilding through the arts, debate and discussion, and community gatherings.

“One of the things we sometimes forget is that we are part of nature…We are part of its health and we can be part of its recovery," Samantha says.

“I’d like people on an emotional level to connect with that idea and feel more excited about that.”

Samantha also hopes that the festival enables people to feel more confident about doing their bit to rewild, working to support wildlife and nature in Yorkshire.

Rewilding is a growing movement which aims to let nature take the lead to restore natural processes.

It can help to create a range of different habitats, tackle climate change, reduce flooding, increase biodiversity and allow wildlife to thrive.

For the charity, rewilding is about “bringing nature back home”, kickstarting processes that allow it to flourish and diversify in the region, Samantha says.

“Nature needs our help. Humans have been shaping the landscape for thousands of years.

"We have used tools, machines, animals and chemicals to clear, tidy, and control the land – leaving less and less space for wildlife. Rewilding puts nature back in charge.”

Yorkshire Rewilding Festival kicks off in York on June 13, with the opening event being a collaboration with the York Festival of Ideas.

Reimagining a Rewilded York is billed as an evening of open discussion and artistic creation where a panel of experts encourage the audience to imagine how urban rewilding could transform York. Artist James McKay will interpret the ideas, capturing them in a painting.

The evening will explore and reflect on the possibilities that urban rewilding presents not just for nature, but for health, communities and for the infrastructure of cities.

A panel of speakers will lead the discussion, including Rob Stoneman, York resident and Director of Landscape Recovery at The Wildlife Trusts; Nicola Ward, Green Corridors Officer at York sustainability charity, St Nicks; Jai Sandhu, design engineer and coordinator of Wild York, and Dr Paul Jepson, author of Rewilding: The Radical New Science of Ecological Recovery.

The festival, which is sponsored by Rewilding Britain and Clarion Solicitors, will also include a day of learning and connection for rewilders; a specially commissioned story and musical performance set in woodland; and a day of family fun in a forest park. It also goes out on tour, with workshops taking place in some of the region’s rewilding sites.

“Anyone can get involved in rewilding,” Samantha says. “Sometimes people think of it as being for big landowners who have money but anyone can make really small changes and start to invite more nature into their home, their work environment, their community.”

The idea of a 'rewilding festival' was born out of a belief that more is achieved with a message of hope, and that when you bring people together it creates a 'buzz' that builds positive momentum, she explains.

“Rewilding is always at it strongest when links are being made, whether that’s within landscapes or between people.

"We believe that looking at rewilding through different lenses can help to strengthen our connection with the natural world and our resolve to enable nature recovery. We also hope it makes for an interesting and joyful experience.”

For the festival’s full programme, visit www.yorkshirerewildingnetwork.org.uk/yrn-festival-2023/