Proforestation - Wildcard

Wildcard study site recognised as one of Italy’s first old-growth forests

Sara Uzquiano on September 17, 2026

Pian de le Stele, one of WILDCARD’s proforestation study sites in the Cansiglio Forest, has been officially recognised as an old-growth forest and is now included in Italy’s National Network of Old-Growth Forests.

Located in the municipality of Polcenigo, in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, Pian de le Stele is among the first forest stands in Italy to receive this recognition. Together with Bosco Vintulins and Croseraz-Val Bona, it was formally included in the national network following ministerial decisions on 6 August 2026.

Protected as an integral reserve since 1971 and free from timber harvesting for more than 60 years, the 14.36-hectare silver fir forest provides an important example of long-term natural forest development. Surveys carried out by researchers at the University of Udine have documented characteristics associated with mature forest ecosystems, including large trees, substantial carbon stocks, abundant standing and lying deadwood, and a diversity of tree-related microhabitats supporting numerous species.

Pian de le Stele also has a direct connection to WILDCARD. The site is part of the project’s network of research sites and contributes to our work investigating proforestation – the process of allowing existing forests to continue growing and develop naturally by reducing or suspending forest management interventions.

Being included in Italy’s National Network of Old-Growth Forests is therefore an important step towards protecting the site in the long term. It also highlights the ecological value that forests can develop when natural processes are allowed to continue over time.

The recognition follows research led by the University of Udine’s Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, coordinated by Wildcard coordinator Giorgio Alberti, as part of a wider study promoted by the Forest Service of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.

Read the full press release from the University of Udine in Italian (here) to learn more about the recognition, the characteristics of these old-growth forests and the research behind their designation.

Featured photo: Pian de le Stelle forest by Alessandro Foscari

People and rewilding: opposition and opportunities

Gesche Schifferdecker on July 29, 2026

Rewilding of former agricultural land in Friuli Venezia Giulia

Blogpost by Clara Jeanroy

200 million football fields.

200 million football fields are the size of agricultural areas abandoned in Europe since the 1990s, especially in regions like the Iberian Peninsula, the Alps and the Carpathians mountains.
What to do with all this land? In many cases the alternative is to “rewild”, which means promoting natural processes whilst minimizing human management. This can be achieved differently: One option is to let landscape evolve naturally with eventually, abandoned agricultural fields turning into forests (called “passive rewilding”) and forests that were managed reaching their full ecological potential (called “proforestation”). Meanwhile, another option is to reintroduce emblematic and locally instinct species like the beaver or the lynx (called “trophic” or “active rewilding”). However, people, and especially local communities, do not always welcome these changes.

For our recent study “Perceptions of rewilding in European abandoned agricultural lands”, we reviewed 80 articles to understand perceptions relating to rewilding in Europe.

Overall, rural, older and farming respondents typically opposed rewilding and preferred traditional land management. This was mostly because these communities are attached to the land and livelihood they grew up in, and they perceived rewilding as a threat to those. Meanwhile, younger and urban individuals, such as tourists, were usually more positive towards the conversion of abandoned agricultural areas into forests. When criticizing rewilding, people mostly dreaded impacts on the landscape (e.g. homogenizing the landscape or increased fire risk), and on economic activities (e.g. reducing food production). Feelings of fear or unsafety were also often mentioned along with feeling of injustice, specifically concerning active rewilding. Indeed, some people felt that wildlife and wilderness were prioritised over already marginalised humans.

Figure: Agricultural abandonment hotspot map with location of data collection sites of the case-studies. The agricultural abandonment hotspots were determined by combining data on both projected and existing abandonment. Map lines delineate study areas and do not necessarily depict accepted national boundaries.

To limit this feeling and conflict in general, we found that practitioners should focus on trust building, stakeholder engagement and financial support (e.g. subsidies which are powerful tools to promote acceptability). For the successful and fair re-naturalisation of abandoned agricultural areas, we advocate for better alignment between actors’ perspectives and rewilding objectives. In fire-prone regions for example, many oppose passive rewilding because it can fuel fire risk (more shrubs and vegetation that dries out in summer). Meanwhile, using active rewilding can limit this risk (e.g. herbivores consume the inflammable vegetation) and consequently reduce the conflict.

For next steps in research, more studies on perceptions are needed in the Carpathians and Baltic regions, which face strong yet more recent abandonment (20 to 30 years later than the Alps because agricultural abandonment only started after the Socialist period). In addition, while many papers look at attitudes towards active and passive rewilding, we mostly lack studies towards “proforestation” (passive rewilding of managed forests).

Lastly, timeline is crucial. Interestingly, some studies showed that people feared less Bisons after their reintroduction. This illustrates that attitudes are dynamic and evolve with knowledge and experience, particularly in the case of rewilding which can take decades to unfold and involve uncertainty. As such, we need more long-term understanding of perceptions with studies in later-stages of rewilding processes.

Reference: Jeanroy, C. G., Smith, A. M., & Verburg, P. H. (2026). Perceptions of rewilding in European abandoned agricultural lands. Landscape and Urban Planning, 274, 105715. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.LANDURBPLAN.2026.105715

Featured image: Rewilding of former agricultural land in Friuli Venezia Giulia (photo: Alessandro Foscari)

Four new WILDCARD podcast episodes explore fascinating examples of rewilding in Europe

Gesche Schifferdecker on June 30, 2026

What happens when people leave the land, when forests return on their own, or when nature refuses to follow our expectations? Our four new episodes of WILDCARD: The Forest Game take listeners on a journey through some of Europe’s most fascinating ecological transformations, revealing how landscapes, wildlife, and even microscopic organisms are reshaping the continent’s future.

In Episode 5, Natural Reforestation in Portugal, we travel to the remote Trás-os-Montes region, where abandoned farmland is gradually becoming forest. This largely unplanned process, driven by demographic and economic change, represents one of Europe’s largest reforestation phenomena. Yet the story is far more complex than a simple return of trees. Through local voices and scientific insights, the episode explores how people, forests, and changing rural landscapes continue to interact.

Episode 6, When Nature Surprises Us: The Steppe That Refused to Become Forest, challenges one of the most common assumptions about ecological succession. After fifty years of observation, ecologist Karel Prach discovered that an abandoned field in the Czech Republic did not become forest as expected. Instead, it developed into a valuable grassland ecosystem supporting rare steppe species. The episode highlights the importance of adaptation, long-term observation, and humility when working with nature.

In Episode 7, The Invisible Architects, the focus shifts beneath our feet. Following devastating wildfires on Mount Vesuvius, researchers uncovered a hidden world of bacteria, fungi, and soil organisms that drive ecosystem recovery. These microscopic communities rebuild soil health, recycle nutrients, and create the foundations without which forests regeneration could not take place. Their work may be invisible to our eyes, but it is essential for successful rewilding.

Finally, Episode 8, Where Wolves Walk: Natural Reforestation and the Return of Wildlife, explores the dynamic relationship between regenerating forests and wildlife. As forests reconnect fragmented landscapes, animals expand into new territories, creating ecological corridors across Europe. Yet wildlife are not merely beneficiaries of restoration; they actively shape the forests themselves through browsing, seed dispersal, and predator-prey interactions. Rewilding emerges as a continuous dialogue between animals and landscapes.

Together, these four episodes reveal that rewilding is neither simple nor predictable. Forests, grasslands, wildlife, and soil organisms all play interconnected roles in shaping Europe’s future landscapes. Through compelling stories and cutting-edge science, WILDCARD: The Forest Game invites listeners to discover how nature recovers when humans step back and observe.

Produced within the WILDCARD project, the podcast combines scientific expertise with engaging storytelling to bring Europe’s rewilding revolution to life. Whether you are interested in ecology, restoration, conservation, or the future of European landscapes, these episodes offer fresh perspectives on the surprising ways nature responds to change.

New paper reveals proforestation benefits for biodiversity in Mediterranean and Alpine forests

Sara Uzquiano on May 26, 2026

Forests are more than collections of trees – they are living systems shaped by time, disturbance, and the countless microhabitats that sustain biodiversity. A new WILDCARD study titled “Beyond management: Proforestation enriches tree-related microhabitat diversity, but forest types determine their composition across Mediterranean and Alpine forests” sheds light on how allowing forests to grow naturally over long periods can significantly enhance their ecological complexity.

The research explored the effects of proforestation – the practice of allowing existing forests to continue growing naturally with minimal or no logging and limited human intervention – across three contrasting forest categories ranging from Mediterranean oak systems to Alpine coniferous and mountainous beech forests. By comparing actively managed stands with forests abandoned for more than 20 and more than 60 years, the study examined how time since abandonment (TSA) influences the development of tree-related microhabitats (TreMs).

TreMs include small but ecologically critical features such as cavities, cracks, bark loss, dead branches, fungal conks, and insect galleries. These structures provide habitat, shelter, and feeding resources for a wide variety of organisms including birds, bats, insects, fungi, and plants. As indicators of forest structural complexity, TreMs are increasingly used in biodiversity monitoring and forest conservation planning across Europe.

The results of the study revealed a clear pattern: in most forest types, longer periods without management promoted greater richness and abundance of TreMs. The strongest effects were observed in Alpine coniferous forests and mountainous beech forests, where unmanaged stands accumulated more deadwood and supported a broader diversity of microhabitats linked to ageing and natural decay processes.

Results of TSA effects on TreM indices across three forest categories:

However, the study also demonstrated that there is no universal trajectory of forest recovery. Mediterranean thermophilous deciduous forests (forests found in relatively warm Mediterranean climates that are dominated by trees which lose their leaves seasonally) showed a weaker response to abandonment, suggesting that structural ageing processes occur more slowly in these systems. The researchers propose that oak-dominated Mediterranean forests may require much longer timeframes – potentially over 90 years without management – before strong old-growth characteristics fully emerge.

Importantly, the research moved beyond simply counting microhabitats. It also investigated how TreM composition changes over time. The findings showed that proforestation not only increases the number of microhabitats but gradually reshapes the entire assemblage of ecological structures present within a forest. Long-abandoned stands increasingly hosted TreMs associated with decomposition, senescence (gradual biological ageing process of an organism or its tissues), and standing deadwood, while some microhabitats linked to active forestry operations became less common.

At the same time, responses varied strongly depending on local conditions, forest history, topography, and tree species composition. Certain TreMs, such as insect galleries and exposed sapwood, increased mainly where standing dead trees accumulated, while others were more influenced by silvicultural disturbance or terrain characteristics. This highlights the importance of understanding forest dynamics within their ecological context rather than applying one-size-fits-all management assumptions.

The study offers important implications for biodiversity-oriented forest planning. As Europe seeks effective nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and ecosystem restoration, proforestation emerges as a valuable strategy not only for carbon storage but also for enhancing habitat diversity and ecological integrity. Integrating long-term unmanaged stands into forest landscapes can help create the structural conditions required by many specialised species that depend on old-growth characteristics.

Ultimately, the research reinforces a simple but powerful message: when forests are given time, they develop complexity that management alone cannot easily reproduce. Protecting existing forests and allowing natural processes to unfold may therefore play a central role in safeguarding biodiversity across both Mediterranean and Alpine ecosystems.

Reference: Marcoz, G., Tomao, A., Bitunjac, D., Boscutti, F., Duvaltier, C., Marjanović, H., Orzan, L., Piazza, N., & Alberti, G. (2026). Beyond management: Proforestation enriches tree-related microhabitat diversity, but forest types determine their composition across Mediterranean and Alpine forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 614, 10.1016/j.foreco.2026.123827

Featured image and photo by Guido Marcoz

Rewilding through Art: virtual exhibition gallery launched!

Gesche Schifferdecker on April 28, 2026

Our innovative new online exhibition is inviting audiences to experience rewilding through a different lens – one shaped not by data alone, but by creativity, emotion, and shared reflection. Launched in collaboration with the Meander Magazine and the REWRITE project, the “Rewilding through Art” initiative brings together science, culture, and artistic expression in a unique virtual gallery hosted by Meander magazine: www.meandermagazine.earth/rewildingthroughart

The exhibition stems from a simple yet powerful set of questions: what does rewilding mean to individuals and communities, and how can it reshape both landscapes and mindsets? The response was striking. More than 80 submissions from artists, researchers, and citizens across 19 countries offered diverse interpretations – from ocean installations and satellite imagery to sculptures made of forest materials. A jury combining expertise from art, ecology, and environmental practice selected 12 standout works, reflecting a wide range of perspectives. While the exhibition originated as a physical installation in a forest setting in Freising, Germany, in February 2026, it now lives on through its online format, making these reflections accessible to a broader audience.

The virtual gallery highlights how art can deepen engagement with environmental issues, creating space for dialogue and new ways of seeing. Complementary to presenting rewilding as a purely scientific concept, the exhibition reveals it as a cultural and emotional process – one that reconnects people with nature and with each other.

Rewilding in action: Šumava National Park

Raghav Sharma on March 20, 2026

On Rewilding Day 2026, our attention turns to WILDCARD’s Czech case study: Šumava National Park in southwestern Czechia, a landscape where nature is taking the lead. The National Park is one of Central Europe’s largest forested areas, stretching across borders with Germany and Austria.

Our new video shares insights about the history of this forest area, political and ecological objectives, and societal expectations: While some residents embrace the vision of wild forests, others see unmanaged landscapes as damaged or neglected.

Despite differing perspectives, our Czech study shows that attitudes are slowly shifting. Dialogue, experience, and exposure to regenerating areas are helping to build understanding and trust. Šumava offers a powerful reminder: rewilding is not “just” about ecosystems – it is also about people, perceptions, and the long-term vision of living with nature rather than controlling it.

WILDCARD meeting: science, collaboration, and a shared vision

Gesche Schifferdecker on March 2, 2026

Last week, our second annual WILDCARD meeting of took place in Freising from February 25–27, 2026. The three-day event brought together consortium partners to reflect on progress and shape the next phase of research on rewilding, forest dynamics, and climate resilience across Europe.

Hosted by Technical University of Munich, our exchange opened with field visits to the Echinger Lohe experimental site and Freising Forest, where our colleagues joined experts from the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry for an exclusive tour of a strict forest reserve, exploring long-term monitoring, nitrogen deposition impacts, ash dieback, and lasting legacies of historical land use. Our group also engaged with the WILDCARD Art Exhibition – an inspiring reminder of the importance of connecting science and society.

Artwork of Diana Takacsova (photo: Evgenia Emets)

Back on campus, discussions focused on advances across different work streams: biodiversity and carbon monitoring, economic and policy integration, and communication and management. In dedicated modelling sessions our colleagues highlighted progress with LandClim, FlamMap, and ForClim, strengthening links between disturbance dynamics, proforestation and afforestation pathways, and large-scale scenario development. Strong emphasis was placed on harmonising dendrometric, biodiversity, soil, and remote sensing datasets, and on integrating above- and belowground processes.

The Young Researchers’ Spotlight showcased cutting-edge studies on rewilding perceptions, drought resilience in unmanaged forests, agroforestry optimisation, microbial–carbon trade-offs, LiDAR-based structural indicators, and tree-related microhabitats – demonstrating the scientific depth and interdisciplinary strength of the consortium.

The meeting concluded with strategic discussions on policy briefs, cross-WP integration, and future milestones. Together, we reaffirmed WILDCARD’s shared ambition: delivering robust, policy-relevant science to support biodiversity recovery, climate mitigation, and resilient European landscapes.

Celebrating Women and Girls in Science: Spotlight on WILDCARD Researchers

Gesche Schifferdecker on February 11, 2026

Today, on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the we celebrate the contributions of female researchers who are advancing knowledge and innovation in rewilding and ecosystem restoration across Europe.

Sara Cazzaniga, a Postdoctoral Researcher at ETH Zurich, studies the invisible yet powerful world beneath our feet: soil microbes. While rewilding often focuses on visible changes in landscapes and wildlife, Sara’s work uncovers how bacterial and fungal communities drive ecosystem recovery from the ground up. By linking below-ground microbial processes to above-ground ecological outcomes, her research helps ensure that soil biodiversity is recognized in policy and restoration strategies, providing essential evidence for informed decision-making.

Lena Lopez, a PhD researcher at the Technical University of Munich, is driven by the potential of science to catalyse coexistence between humanity and nature. As part of WILDCARD, she models land allocation scenarios for rewilding and proforestation across the European Union. Her work explores how different land-use pathways can support biodiversity while considering social and economic dimensions, contributing valuable insights for policymakers and landowners.

Lucia Seebach, a researcher at the Forestry Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, brings a lifelong passion for environmental protection and geoecology to WILDCARD. Inspired by experiences in wild landscapes and national parks, she focuses on forests with the potential to become wild again. By accompanying natural forest development and studying ecosystem processes, Lucia’s research highlights the resilience of nature and the importance of giving ecosystems time and space to recover.

Together, Sara, Lena, and Lucia exemplify the interdisciplinary and forward-looking science at the heart of WILDCARD. Their work not only advances understanding of rewilding but also provides evidence to support sustainable land-use policies and biodiversity conservation. On this day, we proudly recognize their contributions and encourages the next generation of women and girls to pursue careers in science and environmental research.

Where Europe could rewild: mapping the forests of the future

Gesche Schifferdecker and Margarita Penna on January 21, 2026

Proforestation in Germany (photo: Gesche Schifferdecker)

By Gesche Schifferdecker and Margarita Penna

Across Europe, landscapes are quietly changing. Mountain farms and pastures are being abandoned, forest management is easing in some regions, and climate and policy pressures are reshaping how land is used. For some, these trends raise concerns. For others, they open a powerful question: where could nature return, at scale, if we let it?

This is the starting point of WILDCARD’s “First iteration estimates of rewilding area and potential” (Deliverable 1.1), the project’s first EU-wide attempt to map where rewilding could realistically take place over the coming decades.

Rather than asking where rewilding should happen, this work asks a more grounded question: where is rewilding most likely to happen, given social, economic, and environmental change? The answer provides a much-needed baseline for understanding Europe’s rewilding potential – and for shaping future policy and restoration strategies.

Seeing opportunity in land-use change

Rewilding in WILDCARD is not a single process. It emerges through different pathways: when agricultural land is abandoned and forests naturally grow back; when managed forests are allowed to mature and develop more natural structures (proforestation); or a large step towards rewilding can be taken by going from intensive agricultural use to new mixed-use forests where ecological needs are explicitly addressed.

First main pathway to wilder forests in Europe: Agricultural abandonment can trigger rewilding from croplands/grasslands/mosaics toward more natural forest states, either by shifting into a combined-objective forest (some continued management alongside recovery) or by moving into close-to-nature forest through more hands-off rewilding.

Second main pathway to wilder forests in Europe: Proforestation, instead, focuses on existing forests, reducing management so plantations or multi-use stands mature into close-to-nature forests.

To capture this complexity, researchers explored eight future scenarios that reflect different development pathways for Europe. These scenarios cover both the IPCC Shared Socioeconomic Pathways and the IPBES Nature Futures Framework, ranging from business-as-usual futures to more ambitious, policy-driven nature restoration pathways. More particularly, the IPCC Shared Socioeconomic Pathwaysdescribe different ways society, economies, and governance might develop in the future, from current trends to transformative change. The IPBES Nature Futures Framework adds perspectives on how humans value and interact with nature. Together, they offer a comprehensive picture of how Europe’s landscape could evolve, visually showing how different socio-economic choices and visions of nature we prioritise can shape future land-use patterns.

At the heart of the analysis lies the CLUMondo model, a spatially explicit land-use model that simulates how land systems evolve under changing demands, policies, and biophysical conditions. The model projects land-use changes across Europe from 2020 to 2050, at a fine resolution of 1 km², allowing researchers to zoom from continental patterns down to regional detail.

Mapping Europe’s rewilding hotspots

Despite the diversity of futures explored, a striking pattern emerges from the WILDCARD work: forest recovery is an important feature in almost all scenarios.

The strongest signals appear along Europe’s major mountain systems – the Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians, and the Dinaric–Šar–Pindus arc – where steep terrain, lower agricultural profitability, and existing forest cover create favourable conditions for natural regeneration. These landscapes form the backbone of Europe’s potential rewilding corridors.

Different processes dominate in different regions

Proforestation is most common in areas with relatively large and not very intensively managed forests, where reduced intervention allows forests to develop toward near-natural conditions.
Agricultural abandonment and rewilding are most likely in marginal farmland, particularly in Southern and Central Europe, where retreating agriculture opens space for forest regrowth.
Combined-objective forests emerge on previously cultivated lands mainly in Central and Eastern Europe, where land is released from agriculture but remains partially managed for multiple benefits. While not rewilding per se these transitions make an important contribution to a wilder Europe.

When these processes are combined, they reveal a coherent continental picture: rewilding potential clusters in uplands and less productive landscapes, while Europe’s intensively farmed lowlands largely remain under production.

Graphic: Total rewilding probability map of Europe, representing areas with different levels of agreement across all eight land-use change scenarios. The maximum probability is reached when the conversion from croplands (arable and permanent), grasslands, mosaics and managed forests to close-to-nature forest occurs in all eight scenarios

Why policy matters

One of the most important insights comes from the “SSP2 – Planned Rewilding scenario” developed by WILDCARD researchers. Here, rewilding is not left entirely to chance. Spatially guided towards areas of potentially high ecological importance and good chances on rewilding success, policy-supported measures produce more connected and coherent forest recovery patterns than spontaneous abandonment alone. In other words, how we guide rewilding matters as much as where it happens.

These first maps do not offer final answers – and they are not meant to. Instead, they provide a continental baseline: a shared reference point for exploring trade-offs, biodiversity outcomes, and climate benefits in the next phases of WILDCARD. As future deliverables refine these scenarios and link them to ecological and social outcomes, one message is already clear: Europe’s forests of the future are taking shape now – and understanding where nature can return is the first step toward letting it thrive.

WILDCARD Rewilding Forum: register now for final spots!

Gesche Schifferdecker on January 21, 2026

Stakeholder Engagement activities in the forest, Germany

Do you want to discuss with us about how much rewilding is Europe ready to accept? Are you a researcher, policymaker, artist, or practitioner interested in exploring one of Europe’s most pressing environmental questions? If yes, make sure to express your interest and register quickly for the 2nd Rewilding Forum taking place on 24–25 February 2026 in Freising, Germany. Set against the implementation of the EU’s Nature Restoration Law, the forum will examine the role rewilding can play in addressing the twin climate and biodiversity crisis. You can find the programme here!

EU policymakers have acknowledged the scale of this challenge through the landmark Nature Restoration Law, which calls for restoring at least 20% of Europe’s land and sea areas by 2030, with restoration efforts extending across all ecosystems by 2050. As Member States begin to prepare and implement their national restoration plans, the WILDCARD project is generating critical insights into how far nature itself – through passive rewilding and non-intervention – can contribute to achieving these ambitious goals.

Our discussions will explore how people perceive rewilding, examining the social factors that enable or hinder public acceptance and highlighting potential gaps between EU-level ambitions and local perspectives. Participants will also consider how passive rewilding can be integrated into policy as a deliberate strategy to address biodiversity loss and land abandonment, and whether it can help foster more sustainable relationships between communities and nature. A further strand will look at how art and storytelling can shift perceptions, open up new ways of thinking, and reshape the public debate around rewilding.

On the second day, we will visit the Walddynamik experimental site to see the WILDCARD project in action, as well as the Freising Climate Forest. These field visits will offer a firsthand look at how research, practice, and art intersect on the ground.

Register your interest to join the 2^nd Rewilding Forum here.

WILDCARD can cover participation costs if needed.

Detailed travel and accommodation information will be provided after registration.

Featured image: Stakeholder Engagement activities in the forest, Germany (photo: Gesche Schifferdecker)