We’re in a century that biologists fear will bring a “great extinction.” Half of all species on Earth, gone, by this century’s end. Wildlife populations cut so deeply that the process of evolution itself could be stopped.

But around the world, committed conservationists are girding to battle that on a scale and with a vision bigger than ever before. They call it “rewilding.” Bringing back and reconnecting swaths of wild Earth and animals on a grand scale.

Our guest, Caroline Fraser, has been out tracking their progress.

This hour, On Point: on the front lines of “rewilding” the Earth.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Caroline Fraser joins us from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She’s the author of “Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution.”  For the past several years, she’s traveled all seven continents reporting on large-scale and transborder conservation projects. 

Read an excerpt (pdf) from “Rewilding the World.”

Joining us from Albany, Australia, is Keith Bradby, coordinator of Gondwana Link, a rewilding project that aims to protect a large swath of land in southwest Australia – from the wet karri forests of the far south west to the woodlands bordering the Nullarbor Plain.

More links: 

See a slideshow of Caroline’s photos from the conservation frontlines at Scientific American.

Connect with conservation organizations that work on “rewilding.”

Author Rick Bass at his home in Montana. (Photo by Nicole Blaisdell)

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Rick Bass, award-winning author and environmental activist, has lived in the Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana for over 20 years.

Well known as a chronicler of the western wilderness, the Yaak Valley in particular, his newest book is something of a modern-day “Walden.” Like Thoreau, Bass records in lush detail the passage of seasons and the natural world.

But while Thoreau went into the woods alone, Bass is a family man — and he reflects on raising young children immersed in the wild.

This hour, On Point: Rick Bass and a year in the Montana wilderness.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Jane Clayson, guest host

Guest:

Rick Bass joins us from Spokane, Wash.  An award-winning chronicler of the American western wilderness and an environmental activist, his new book is “The Wild Marsh: Four Seasons at Home in Montana.” Among his many other works of fiction and nonfiction are “The Book of Yaak,” “The Ninemile Wolves,” “The Hermit’s Story,” “The Lives of Rocks,” and “Why I Came West.”

Read an excerpt from “The Wild Marsh.”