The charity Rewilding Britain will offer up to £15,000 each for projects that create new opportunities for large-scale restoration of nature.
These could include engaging with the community, business plans for enterprises such as ecotourism that generate income for the local economy or using new technology in rewilding.
A pilot of the fund last year handed out £55,000 to various projects, including one using new light-detection techniques to measure the carbon capture of scrub and wood pasture at several rewilding sites in England and Scotland, and another to investigate seagrass restoration feasibility in north-east England.
The scheme comes as rewilding is rising up the environmental agenda, in the UK and also worldwide. Rewilding is the large-scale restoration of nature to the point where it can take care of itself, by bringing back habitats and natural processes and, where appropriate, reintroducing lost species, such as beavers.
Part of the UK Government...