Rewilding as Traditionalisation

Abstract Recent rewilding movements in Europe have used ecosystems’ historical baselines to construct progressive conservationist philosophies and practices. Both the rhetoric and activity surrounding these rewilding projects evoke folkloristic preoccupations with traditionalisation, as rewilders use past models and present materials to establish a landscape's continuity amidst the ongoing and future ramifications either caused or exacerbated by climate change. This article considers how humanistic concerns with cultural conservation intersect with parallel concerns in ecological contexts, positioning the impulse to traditionalise as not only ascribing authority to rewilding efforts but also reframing how ideas of sustainability and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) can be jointly theorised in cultural and environmental domains. By bridging theoretical approaches from folklore studies and the environmental humanities, this article positions the urge to conserve within a wider human tendency to traditionalise available materials during periods of crisis, looking specifically at how the environmental crisis of climate change poses threats to both landscapes and ICH at global scales.