Subscribe to The Curb podcast via RSS feed, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or iHeart Radio. Download the episode directly here.
Isabella Tree is a noted conservationist and the author of the acclaimed book Wilding, which tells the story of Isabella and her husband as they undertook the immense and impressive journey to rewild their failing four-hundred-year-old estate in England, bringing beavers and cranes back to the country for the first time in years.
Wilding, alongside the work of fellow conservationist Derek Gow, author of such books as Birds, Beasts, and Bedlam and Bringing Back the Beaver, have become foundational texts for me, having guided my perspective as a wannabe conservationist, albeit with a minimalist perspective as someone trapped in the midst of suburbia and rental life. While Isabella and Derek both have estates and land to foster the existence of wild flora and fauna, this is harder to present on a micro-domestic scale.
I mention this as it's part of the backbone of my appreciation for David Allen's documentary Wilding, a sumptuous tale that, with the aid of reenactments, translates Isabella's book to a modern audience, showing the impact of rewilding and the need for nature corridors in our cities, suburbs, and beyond. So, while I may not have an estate, or even much space to 'rewild' my verge, I know that the minimal space that I do have can be utilised to provide a landscape for birds, bugs, and the beetles that call leaf litter home a space to exist, bringing nature and clean air back to my home vicinity.
Wilding is a lovely film, green and grand with its ideas and vision. I was lucky to be able to speak with Isabella ahead of the films run in Australian cinemas from 22 May. The following interview kicks off with a nod to our respective stacked bookshelves which stood behind us in our Zoom windows to our lives and the importance of not just rewilding our environment, but also rewilding our minds too. Isabella then talks about reflecting on the years since her rewilding project kicked off, and how she has engaged with global rewilding, including nods to local conservationists and ecologists, including people like Joey Clarke, who is a Senior Science Communicator at the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, an organisation that has some of the most extensive rewilding projects around Australia; Sally Hawkins, a leader in rewilding research and policymaking with the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature; and Rob Brewster, who is the director of Rewilding Australia at WWF Australia.
These voices, and many more in local and international conservationist movements are pivotal to helping change the mindset of governments and communities around the world in relation to the need to increase rewilding. On a very local perspective, Perth has some of the worst tree canopies in the world, with a rapidly decreasing amount of 22% tree cover, and a distinct lack of urban forests and tree coverage, creating heat islands across the Metropolitan area. This lack of tree coverage, and by extension, nature, further increases the impact of climate change, and increases the devastation to local flora and fauna, including the endangered Carnaby's black cockatoo. By engaging in rewilding processes, we can increase our tree canopy, increase our nature corridors, and increase the foliage for endangered creatures, all the while reducing the impact of climate change, and, as poignantly explored in this conversation with Isabella, reduce the impact on mental health by providing people the ability to reconnect with nature.
Wilding is out in Australian cinemas for a limited run from 22 May 2025. Check your local cinema for screening details. To find out more about Isabella's work, visit IsabellaTree.com.
Screening or Streaming Availability:
