This paper introduces four key groups of actors (armchair rewilders, pioneer farmers, policy
entrepreneurs and guerrilla rewilders) whose actions are driving rewilding discourse, practice
and policy in England. These groups were identified during a comparative case study of two
English rewilding sites (the Avalon Marshes in ...
This paper introduces four key groups of actors (armchair rewilders, pioneer farmers, policy
entrepreneurs and guerrilla rewilders) whose actions are driving rewilding discourse, practice
and policy in England. These groups were identified during a comparative case study of two
English rewilding sites (the Avalon Marshes in Somerset and Wild Ennerdale in Cumbria).
Research involved 49 interviews: twelve expert interviews, followed by stakeholder and
practitioner interviews in the Avalon Marshes (n = eighteen) and Wild Ennerdale (n =
nineteen). Armchair rewilders and pioneer farmers shape discourse by advocating for
rewilding from idealistic (armchair rewilders) or practical (pioneer farmers) standpoints.
Pioneer rewilders and guerrilla rewilders shape practice by conducting rewilding by licit
(pioneer farmers) or illicit (guerrilla rewilders) means. Policy entrepreneurs and guerrilla
rewilders shape rewilding policy through lobbying (policy entrepreneurs) or direct action
(guerrilla rewilders). The ability of these groups to shape rewilding in England relates both to
the way that rewilding in still evolving in England, having travelled to the UK from the USA via
Europe, and to the opportunity presented by the ‘policy window’ created as a result of Brexit
and the UK’s withdrawal from the Common Agricultural Policy. The resulting policy moment
offers a chance to shape British agricultural and environmental policy in a way that will have
significant implications for rewilding’s future in England and the UK.
