Rewilding Keystone

A Nature-Based Solution

Why rewilding:

City surfaces as a novel habitat where an increasing number of wildlife establish their home. Facilitating a thriving urban ecosystem and reconnecting citizens to nature, Wildlife Neighbors hopes to rewild school campuses, starting from Keystone’s Garden.

Our city is threatened with a multi-faceted crisis: the diminishing nature and wildlife, the ensuing societal challenges in pollution and health, and citizens’ lack of connection with nature for mental well-being. By adopting a Nature-based Solution to restore the urban ecosystem and promote wildlife coexistence, we hope to find an anchorage where these needs intersect. The school campus not only provides a stable environment to experiment with our rewilding approach but also engages the younger generation in reconnecting with a sustainable natural environment through visits and hands-on gardening.

Our frame work: “Restore-Rewild-Reconnect”

“Restore”: Animal-aided design 动物辅助设计

In cities, green and open spaces are becoming increasingly scarce due to increasing building densification and loss of urban nature. To combat this issue, Animal-Aided Design (AAD) serves as a multifaceted approach to urban construction and nature conservation. AAD integrates the needs of animal species into urban planning. At Keystone, we plan to initiate a rewilding scheme at several locations on campus, considering the needs of common wildlife species, such as hedgehogs, weasels, and butterflies, and the needs of students for relaxing and socializing.

“Rewild”: Minimal ecosystem intervention 再荒野化

Rewilding is an intervention-free approach in which humans preserve the natural succession of the land by limiting artificial controls. These include limiting insecticide and herbicide and no clearance of tree logs and foliage. Respecting the natural cycles through succession, with only minimal actions to clean invasive species and plant early-succession pioneer species, nature would slowly take over, and a comprehensive ecosystem from nutrients to insects to mammals can be restored, which would otherwise be difficult to build artificially. At Keystone, restoring a natural environment familiarizes the nature-deficit children with the wilderness and educates citizens about what nature looks like in its original state.

“Reconnect”: Engaging the citizens

Rewilding is an intervention-free approach in which humans preserve the natural succession of the land by limiting artificial controls. These include limiting insecticide and herbicide and no clearance of tree logs and foliage. Respecting the natural cycles through succession, with only minimal actions to clean invasive species and plant early-succession pioneer species, nature would slowly take over, and a comprehensive ecosystem from nutrients to insects to mammals can be restored, which would otherwise be difficult to build artificially. At Keystone, restoring a natural environment familiarizes the nature-deficit children with the wilderness and educates citizens about what nature looks like in its original state

Plant type to be considered

Ground cover plants 地被植物

Rewilding requires improving the overall environment to sustain the species, so considering the integrity of the ecosystem, we want to attract insects through ground- cover plants. While increasing the diversity of insect species, these insects can also provide a food source for birds and small and medium-sized mammals, thereby increasing their activity.

Shrubs 灌木

Shrubs are taken into consideration because it provides shading to insects and small mammals like hedgehogs and weasels. The shrubs will make them feel more secure and can potentially increase their frequency of activity.

Legumes 豆科植物

The rhizobia can help with nitrogen fixation, and specifically benefit the soil in improving its productivity and fertility of the soil, also repress other unbeneficial bacteria, providing a more suitable environment for plants and insects. We want to plant legumes because they usually form a symbiosis relationship with rhizobia that helps nitrogen fixing and allow better growth of the legumes themselves.

Seasonal food plants 季节性食材

Seasonal food plants can contribute to the “reconnect” aspect of the rewilding proposal, it is able to arouse the interest of students and teachers in plants and allow them to gain a closer connection to nature by observing the changes of seasons.

Nectar plants 蜜源植物

We also consider attracting species that are already active in the surrounding area in our rewilding, so we want to plant some nectar plants to provide food sources for nectar-dependent insects, including bees and butterflies.

Butterfly host plants 蝴蝶寄生植物

Apart from providing nectar, we want to use butterfly host plants to attract butterflies to reproduce and improve the biodiversity of Keystone. The Butterfly host plants will provide a food source for the larvae of butterflies and connect the different stages of the butterfly life cycle.

Aquatic plants 水生植物

Apart from providing nectar, we want to use butterfly host plants to attract butterflies to reproduce and improve the biodiversity of Keystone. The Butterfly host plants will provide a food source for the larvae of butterflies and connect the different stages of the butterfly life cycle.