Restoring a Living Forest in the Basque Country
LOCATION: Between Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Ahetze, Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, and Ustaritz
AREA: 6,000+ hectares of mixed forest, farmland, and villages
GOAL: Reconnect fragmented landscapes into one living, continuous forest
FOCUS: Corridors, native woodland regeneration, and community collaboration
APPROACH: Ecological restoration through partnerships with landowners and farmers
VISION: A thriving landscape where nature, people, and culture coexist
A patchwork of small green parcels bordered by thin hedges, scattered farms, roads, and streams. Some hedgerows broken, some monocultural; open grass dominates.
Productive but simplified; green on the surface, poor in ecological depth.
Thickened hedge corridors and riparian strips appear; a few pastures converted to meadow–shrub mosaics; small ponds and wetlands re-emerge.
Nature processes start to flow again; the bocage becomes a living green network.
A 6000+ha continuous semi-open forest–pasture matrix stretching across valleys and foothills, connected to larger forest blocks; visible cattle, pigs, and ponies under tree canopy.
A landscape where farming, forest, and wild nature form one resilient system.
A patchwork of small green parcels bordered by thin hedges, scattered farms, roads, and streams. Some hedgerows broken, some monocultural; open grass dominates.
Productive but simplified; green on the surface, poor in ecological depth.
Thickened hedge corridors and riparian strips appear; a few pastures converted to meadow–shrub mosaics; small ponds and wetlands re-emerge.
Nature processes start to flow again; the bocage becomes a living green network.
A 6000+ha continuous semi-open forest–pasture matrix stretching across valleys and foothills, connected to larger forest blocks; visible cattle, pigs, and ponies under tree canopy.
A landscape where farming, forest, and wild nature form one resilient system.
Imagine a quiet world returning, just behind the busy Basque Coast. A place to breathe and get lost. To walk, run or cycle under the shade of oaks and chestnuts. To rest, relax and recharge beside a river while listening to birds instead of traffic.
Imagine a landscape alive again. Wildlife and semi-wild lifestock roaming, browsing, grazing, hunting, farmers working richer soils and producing food with local character, families finding wilderness just behind their home.
Here, roads and fences give way to paths and corridors of life.
The air is cooler, the land greener, villages attracting people away from the coast as they are surrounded by wilderness.
This is Oihan Berria — a living forest for everyone.
A chance to reconnect nature and community while there’s still space to do it, before it is all over-developed, while this opportunity silently faded.
Let’s develop a fantastic future, not by stopping progress, but by guiding it towards eternity.
We’re always listening to residents and local stakeholders who wish to share a contact, expertise, or valuable information.
If you’d like to collaborate, propose an idea, or help guide the project in the right direction, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
©2025 Rewilding Euskal Herria. All Rights Reserved.