Groundbreaking conservation project to start in England – world’s first ‘bison bridges’
Reintroduced bison will soon be trip-trapping over bridges in England, where a “ground-breaking” conservation project aims to reconnect the animals’ woodland habitat.
Linking up fractured habitats is an ongoing conservation challenge and one that the county of Kent is addressing. There, in the so-called ‘garden of England’, work has begun on four bridges that will help a herd of reintroduced bison move freely between forests near Canterbury.
Recent research showed that bison sequester vast quantities of carbon as their ‘eco-engineering’ creates new woodland habitats. The animals went extinct in Britain for thousands of years due to overhunting but were introduced to West Blean and Thornden Woods in Kent in 2022. Last November, a calf was born.
Simon Bateman Brown of Kent Wildlife Trust, which led the reintroduction programme, described the bridges a “ground-breaking proof of concept project laying out the blueprint for others to follow”.
Image: Russell Perry Visual Studio Source: Positive News