A herd of eight European bison has just arrived at the Herdade do Vale Feitoso Estate in Portugal. It will be managed in partnership with the Rewilding Portugal team and will enhance carbon sequestration, promote biodiversity and support the growth of nature-based tourism.
a pioneering avant-garde
A herd of eight European bison has arrived at the 7,600-hectare Termas de Monfortinho and Herdade do Vale Feitoso property, located in the Castelo Branco district, south of the Greater Côa Valley rewilding area. The translocation of bison, sourced from protected areas across Poland, through the Polish National Forests and the European Friendship Society and with the support of the European Bison Conservation Center (EBCC), is partly funded by a grant from the European Association of Rewilding Europe. Wildlife Reinstatement Fund. This is the first time European bison migrated to Portugal. The relocation is being sponsored through a partnership with wine production company Altas Quintas, which raises funds for endangered wildlife species.
Bison roaming parts of the property will promote biodiversity and help the landscape trap more atmospheric carbon. These large grazers reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires by reducing combustible vegetation, creating natural firebreaks, and opening up forested areas to let in more light and allow grass to grow instead of shrubs. Deadly wildfires are becoming increasingly common across the Mediterranean as temperatures become more extreme due to climate change. This problem is compounded by shrubs encroaching on areas where livestock have disappeared due to rural population decline.
progressive pilot
European bison are managed in collaboration with the Rewilding Portugal team. They will share the landscape with a herd of Tauros, who moved to the Greater Côa Valley in 2023 and recently relocated to private land. As the bison adapt to their new environment, people can see them by planning tours with members of the Wild Côa Network, a network of more than 50 nature-based businesses in and around the Greater Côa Valley. It's possible.
“We are looking at this transplant as a pilot,” explains Pedro Prata, Rewilding Portugal team leader. “We will closely monitor how bison adapt to the local landscape and climate. This is the first time the Rewilding Portugal team manages bison, so it is a learning process for us as well. Team members will receive bison management training.”
European bison: climate, biodiversity and community heroes
As a keystone species and a leading rewilding species, the European bison has the potential to become a climate and biodiversity hero. This is one of the reasons why the continued return of this influential herbivore in the European region is so important, along with efforts to support population growth.
By grazing, foraging, trampling, and fertilizing, bison help maintain a biodiverse mosaic landscape of forests, shrubs, and grasslands and numerous microhabitats that are home to a variety of plant and animal species. This has been highlighted in studies of related American bison in Europe as well as North America. These same interactions can promote atmospheric carbon capture in both vegetation and soil, with carbon also stored in the bison themselves. By supporting the growth of nature-based tourism, European bison can also become heroes in their communities.
historical context
European bison have never been recorded naturally on the Iberian Peninsula, but remains of the now-extinct steppe bison, from which all living bison today descend, have been recorded from the region. The steppe bison became extinct about 10,000 years ago after the last Ice Age, but the European bison, which coexisted with the steppe bison in Europe for tens of thousands of years, spread east across Europe as far as the Volga River and the Caucasus Mountains. On the Iberian Peninsula, European bison perform similar ecological functions to steppe bison, and recent studies have shown that this species is well adapted to Spain's Mediterranean climate.
The European bison itself was on the verge of extinction due to hunting and habitat loss. When the last wild European bison was shot in the Caucasus in 1927, there were only 54 surviving European bison, all of them in captivity. Thanks to conservation efforts, the species has made a remarkable recovery since then. Over the past decade, European bison numbers have grown from just over 2,500 individuals to about 9,000.
Rewilding efforts in Europe have established populations of European bison in the Southern Carpathians of Romania and the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria. We are also rooting for their comeback in the Oder Delta (Germany, Poland).
Let's reenact together
The agile setup of the European Wildlife Reinstatement Fund is designed to support the return of wildlife in a convenient and flexible way. Rewilding Europe invites other initiatives working to establish and strengthen populations of key species in European landscapes to consider applying for grants.
People interested in wildlife recovery in Europe can support their return by donating online. If you would like to invest more than €50,000 in the European Wildlife Reinstatement Fund, I would like to contact you personally.