Our Mission
Plant native plants that support wildlife.
Re-Wilding Initiative is a non-profit company dedicated to selecting, distributing and planting native plants. Because over half of our wild spaces and species are gone, we are committed to helping the remaining half of nature, by planting more native plants that support all forms of life. This is urgently needed because 85% of all remaining species are struggling to survive due to habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.
What is rewilding?
Rewilding is a term coined by conservation biologists in the 90’s. One of the main concepts of rewilding is to restore nature by introducing ‘cores, corridors and carnivores’. The goal is to reconnect fragmented natural areas and help them function as they once did before human disturbance. Part of this biologist view of rewilding is to reintroduce apex predators, in order to rebuild fully functioning ecosystems, as described below.
This mind-blowing TED talk entitled “For more wonder, rewild the world” by journalist and environmentalist George Monbiot inspired us to start Re-Wilding.
TED – Global 2013.
This is a short video of the highlights of Monbiot’s TED talk, set to music and beautiful nature footage, entitled “How wolves can alter the course of rivers”.
TED – Blog 2014.
We use the term “rewilding” a bit differently, from a horticulturalist / botanist point of view, and from the bottom up. Instead of apex fauna, we are focused on reintroducing apex flora, using several metrics like plant species native status, Lepidoptera (butterfly & moth) host ‘ranking’, threatened & endangered status and many other considerations.
Our focus is to BUILD wildlife oases in otherwise urban deserts, on roofs.
About Us
We are a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) dedicated to putting native plants back into our environment. We are focused on plants that help the maximum amount of wildlife, as well as plants that are endangered or threatened. Our mission is to green urban environments, where there are few plants that support wildlife.
Funding Initiatives
Re-wilding initiative was created for one main project: Greening NYC Parks Department roofs as wildlife habitats. We will also green commercial roofs as a source of fundraising. In the future, we hope to fund projects on the ground as well, like installing native gardens for schools.
Resources
Re-Wilding’s goal is to share as much information as possible. Our founder has studied Horticulture & Botany at NY Botanical Garden and Ecology & Sustainability at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. We’ll share relevant information regarding native plants, wildlife habitat, ecology, sustainability and other related topics.