In the East Sussex town of Lewes, a rewilding project led by ecologist Dylan Walker aims to utilize dogs wearing seed bags to revive biodiversity, detailed the Guardian.
Walker, the founder of Wilderlife, is passionate about sharing ecological knowledge and getting people involved in rewilding. He was inspired by a 2019 project in Chile in which two women and their three dogs dispersed seeds around regions that had been devastated by wildfires.
After becoming aware of a local nature reserve that had suffered from heavy foot traffic, Walker got the idea to work with dog walkers and their canine friends to help infuse biodiversity.
The project, operated by the Railway Land Wildlife Trust in Lewes with funding from Ouse Valley Climate Action, mimics the way wolves used to spread seeds before they became extinct in the United Kingdom around 1760.
Picking up wildflower and grass seeds as they roamed, the wolves would inadvertently disperse the seeds where they traveled, helping to support the ecosystems around them.
Similarly, the dogs — wearing backpacks filled with seeds and sand — walk the reserve and spread seeds much like their wolf relatives used to do. The pets are able to get into hard-to-reach places to help revive the area's biodiversity.
"We're really interested in rewilding processes, but they often involve reintroducing big herbivores like bison or wild horses," Walker said. "In a smaller urban nature reserve, it's really hard to do those things. So, to replicate the effect that those animals have on the ecosystem, we aimed to utilize the vast number of dog walkers that are visiting the nature reserve daily."
The sand in the backpacks helps with dispersing the seeds and also enables the organizers to track where the dogs have roamed. There's already evidence of some germination, but since many of the seeds are perennials, Walker hopes to see more growth in about a year.
Biodiversity is critical for the state of our planet and human survival. Healthy ecosystems support wildlife and crop growth, stabilizing our food supply and other resources we use in our daily lives, like construction materials.
It's also imperative to revive degraded biodiversity to help combat rising global temperatures and ensure the safety of our planet for the future.
Wilderlife, the organization run by Walker, works to educate people on the importance of rewilding and make it an accessible activity for everyone to partake in.
The project in Lewes is one of many efforts the group has made in order to aid biodiversity and help the planet.
Walker said: "A community-based project like this not only helps engage and teach people about the ecological impacts of wildlife but also allows us to make our wildlife and environments richer in the process."
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