ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Wild Ennerdale, the project ‘wilding’ the Ennerdale Valley. The Ennerdale Valley lies within England’s Lake District, a unique landscape with a rich heritage and farming culture (evidenced by its UNESCO status). Negotiations with farming and heritage shape rewilding’s trajectory in the Ennerdale Valley as it attempts to balance ecological drivers with socio-cultural considerations. Agriculture and rewilding coexist in Wild Ennerdale, with extensive cattle grazing replacing more intensive sheep farming. The cattle become liminal animals, occupying a marginal space between the domesticity of pastoral farming and the wildness of ecological restoration. They perform dual roles of naturalistic grazers in a functioning ecosystem and of livestock within productive farm systems. The appearance of Wild Ennerdale is changing as a result of the change in agriculture and it no longer conforms to conventional ideals of the Lake District landscape. Instead, it is less managed and ‘messier’, challenging the ethics and aesthetics of land management and use.
