Skip to main content

Choosing a site

The land you start with shapes everything after it. Worn-out former farmland is usually the best place to begin. It costs less, it genuinely needs the help, and recovery is easier to show than on land that is already healthy. Abandoned and degraded farmland is widespread, and researchers have mapped where it offers the most restoration potential (where abandoned farmland could help, news). Look for a place where the ecosystem wants to return and where you can keep tending it for decades.

Non-negotiables​

  • Restorable, not poisoned. Degraded is fine; contaminated is not. Screen for industrial pollution, heavy metals, and persistent agro-chemicals before you commit.
  • A real water story. A site needs water you can count on: rainfall, a stream, a spring, a well, or runoff you can harvest. Plantings that cannot survive their first dry season will not.
  • Secure tenure. Ownership, a long lease, or a firm written agreement. Never an informal arrangement on land you will work for years.
  • Legal to restore. Zoning and land-use rules have to allow planting and any structures you need.
  • A clear reference ecosystem. You can name what the site should become, which sets the species (see the method).

What to weigh (scoring criteria)​

Score candidates against the same criteria so you can compare them honestly. Suggested weights in brackets.

  • Affordability [high]: land price plus acquisition costs, with room left to operate.
  • Restoration potential [high]: how degraded, how reversible, and how clear the path back to a healthy native ecosystem.
  • Water security [high]: rainfall, drought risk, and the cost of securing water. Even temperate regions now see dry summers (Germany plans for drought, news). Shaping how water moves across a site helps recharge groundwater.
  • Hazard exposure [context]: fire, flood, storm, pests. Fire is a serious factor around the Mediterranean (fire-resilient forests in Iberia, news).
  • Legal and administrative ease: how hard it is to own land and run an entity, and how heavy the paperwork is.
  • Funding landscape: grants and programs for restoration in that place.
  • Operational fit: distance, language, your skills, your daily life. You will live with this choice.
  • Right land actually available: does suitable degraded land, with the qualities you want, come up for sale or lease there.

Country-level values for these criteria live in parameters/. Score a site by combining the parcel's own facts with its region's profile.

Due diligence (before you commit)​

  • Walk the land across seasons if you can. Watch the water, the existing plants, the exposure, and what grows back on its own.
  • Test the soil, with DIY kits and a lab panel for contamination and basic chemistry.
  • Confirm boundaries, access rights, and easements at the land registry.
  • Check zoning, protected-area status, and building permission with the local authority.
  • Talk to neighbours and local naturalists. They know the site's history and how its water behaves.

Implementation​

  1. Set your bioregion shortlist (see parameters/).
  2. Fix a budget ceiling and a workable area range for that bioregion.
  3. Search listings, agencies, local contacts, and public-land programs.
  4. Score each candidate on the criteria above and keep the comparison written down.
  5. Run due diligence on the top one or two before making any offer.