Coa Valley, Reintroducing Lynx and Rewilding Communally
Coa Valley, Reintroducing Lynx and Rewilding Communally
International rewilding: Portugal's rural Coa Valley has seen decades of depopulation, resulting in the right conditions for natural rewilding, and setting the stage to reintroduce the Iberian Lynx.
As a part of our coverage of rewilding projects of note and urban rewilding, for a while we have wanted to better understand Portugal’s rural Coa Valley. It is a fascinating example of how rewilding can restore nature, community and understanding about new approaches to the biodiversity crisis in a semi-abandoned setting.
Located near the Spanish-Portuguese border, the Greater Coa Valley is picturesquely flanked by the Douro River and Malcata Mountains. This former rich farmlands has seen decades of abandonment, leaving over 300,000 acres of land to be set aside for a new restoration project that is targeting bringing the Iberian Lynx, long absent from the environment, back to one of its natural homes. The project is a fantastic case study for the potential for rewilding projects to revitalise not just abandoned landscapes, but declining communities and local cultures.
Since 2013 a number of disjointed piecemeal nature restoration projects have been set up in the valley, bringing with them a desire to increase both plant and animal diversity in the landscape, after years of abandonment had left the land overrun with invasive species and declining wildlife numbers. The projects have consistently married bringing species of deer, boar, vultures and eagles back into the region with a strong eco-tourism bent, creating new Iberian safaris that can help bring both nature and prosperity to a region long in decline.
One particular project has focused on restoring wetland habitats, utilising the Douro River to create a number of ecosystems dependent on waterways. In particular restoration of an aquatic seedbank has replenished aquatic plant life to encourage fish and bird populations to begin using the formerly dammed river sites more holistically. Native species of fish have also been introduced, after work was done to reduce the number of invasive predators that were causing those populations to fall drastically.
Local populations have got behind a different, wilder approach to the land, and work has been done to ensure that agricultural businesses in the region are locally run, and most importantly use traditional techniques that reduce the intensity inflicted upon the soil. They achieve this by reducing the number of herbivores that are consistently grazing within penned areas and removing a number of heavy agri-machinery. At the same time, the state is working to break up large factory farms to facilitate diverse small family ones. Reimagining a world where we farm ecologically and collectively, focusing on more natural capital approaches - not just profit at the expense of the land.
On top of this, new innovative eco-tourism sites have been set up, aiming to capitalise on tourists looking for nature safaris, birdwatching and traditional Iberian culture. A new yearly art festival has been set up in Coa to combine traditional Portuguese art techniques with messaging around the rewilding projects within the valley. It also brings attention to the incredible extensive and ancient cave drawings in the area, reflecting some of the oldest forms of human art in the Iberian peninsula.
This marriage between art and rewilding projects is particularly important to LettsSafari, as we similarly sees the potential in using local and talented artists to communicate the environmental message. In this way Coa’s projects reflects the goals and ambitions of ourselves at LettsSafari, to expand rewilding’s message across greater landscapes, through the UK, Europe, and beyond.
Additionally within Coa, another 300 acre project in the valley is targeting building out extensive wild pathways, increasing the connectivity to the rewilding projects and allowing for runs of wild corridors within the valley that can enable particular species, such as Sorraia horses, to migrate across the wild habitats.
This project also targets growing flooding areas to increase the number of wild wetland habitats within the space, as well as diversifying woodland habitats with greater numbers of native trees. They aim to eventually create a natural oasis within this 300 acre space, giving wildlife an essential rest stop as they migrate throughout the wider valley.
The Coa Valley project in total houses 4 smaller and large scale rewilding projects, and has created a local network that supports and reinforces each other, much like the LettsSafari network of parks is aiming to achieve on a wider basis. The work within the Coa Valley is still very new, and the project has picked up the most steam following the height of the pandemic, when much higher rates of rural abandonment were seen, and numerous projects were set up through the intervention of private investors.
The valley highlights the importance of communal co-operation and individual participation in rewilding projects. Without major state intervention, Coa Valley has managed to create a growing network of projects, restoring natural wild fish, birds and particularly large mammal populations. They have a key long term target to reintroduce the Iberian Lynx to the region as soon as the rewilding projects have become more established, and are spread more consistently through the valley.
Projects such as this highlight our growing need to build out British and wider European rewilding networks in its vein, allowing for greater rewilding productivity, while creating natural corridors essential to plant and animal life. Coa’s project, in particular, also reflects the potential of rewilding to revitalise declining local communities by championing its unique culture and geography: The LettsSafari way!
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