Rewilding Possibilities in the United States: Restoring Habitats and Loss

November 18th, 2025
Adrienne Wang

Rewilding and its relation to the Environment

Rewilding at its core is an environmental conservation effort that restores land to its natural state, often in accordance with protection of ecosystems and the reintroduction of animal species. In recent years, it's gained traction by policymakers, scientists and conservation groups when looking towards potential solutions for the global threat of climate change.

Rewilding’s Global Position

Rewilding has been practiced multiple times before with large-scale projects also taking place. This has been observed in many states, typically in Europe. Examples include efforts in Germany and Poland’s Oder Delta since 2015, and the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria, which have seen an increasing number of animal species such as fallow deer and European bison in the habitat. These successes show the huge potential of rewilding in terms of addressing biodiversity loss and other environmental challenges. However, this does not necessarily translate to finding guaranteed success in the United States.

US Implications

Rewilding in the United States is a possibility, and it has been done before, such as the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. However, it is also imperative to recognize the substantial challenges that arise when undertaking it. In the context of large-scale rewilding, there are immense costs. The projected lifetime costs are $2500-$6000 U.S dollars per hectare of land, and there are simply not enough funds unless rewilding were to gain more momentum. Additionally, there is the issue of a restriction of land use through rewilding, potentially preventing the use of agricultural land for farming. Farmers may not be able to utilize the land that they rely on for their crops and livestock.

LD Context

Many Affirmatives on this topic are contingent on rewilding being the solution for climate change. This may be a viable strategy considering the success of previous rewilding projects and how they have restored ecosystems. However, the Negative can still leverage arguments of rewilding not being popular as internal links to disadvantage, especially in the context of politics. Another argument that has been run is about farmers, as implicated previously, when rewilding substantially as the resolution mandates, food production may be reduced as a result of the loss of farmland.