Finding a wild feline in a woodland in the nation’s capital reminds us that nature has a way of adapting and recovering. The discovery marks another chapter in the long-term rewilding of the D.C. area.

The arrival of English settlers in the early 1600s set in motion a process of taming the fertile lands east of the Appalachians. The next 300 years ushered in the purposeful destruction of forests and wild nature in the east (along with its aboriginal peoples). The vast forests were cleared for farming and settlement. By the time of the Civil War, many of the accessible forests were gone, and the remnant stands of urban and suburban trees across the settled east were cut to build forts, clear firing lanes and provide wood to burn in evening fires in army camps. Examine scenic photographs shot around the forts of D.C. in the late 1860s and the impression is of a land largely devoid of forests.

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The wholesale loss of forested land meant less habitat for wildlife, of course. But it was the active pursuit of wild game over more than two centuries that doomed eastern populations of many of the larger species of mammals and birds. When Jamestown was settled, the lands that are today Maryland and Virginia supported populations of bison, elk, red wolf, mountain lion and black bear. These populations of predators and large game mammals were wiped out with advancing settlement. Local settlers then exterminated additional species down the food chain: bobcat, river otter, beaver, wild turkey, red fox and gray fox. Some were shot as “vermin” and others for their pelts or meat.

Populations of white-tailed deer declined sharply. By the turn of the 20th century they were absent from virtually all of the settled and cultivated east. In addition, all birds of prey were shot, mainly for sport or because they were thought to be predators of farm domesticates. The wild turkey, a much-loved game bird, was hunted to extinction through many of the eastern states by the end of the 19th century.

What changed? Gradually, over 150 years, many of the impoverished pastures and stony fields reverted to forest across the east as agriculture declined, farms failed, and families migrated to towns and cities. The urbanization of the east meant fewer rural folk hunting game and shooting “vermin.” From small relict populations, the game mammals and raptorial birds began to repopulate the expanding forests. These forests followed the courses of the larger rivers down from the mountains and hills to the verges of the cities. The wild creatures moved along these natural pathways, coming ever closer to Washington.

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The mighty Potomac drains the high Allegheny Plateau of West Virginia and western Maryland, creating an inviting pathway for wildlife. First came the white-tailed deer. Then the floods of Hurricane Agnes in 1972 brought down refugee beavers that recolonized the wetlands around the capital. The burgeoning population of black bears in the Appalachians began searching for new haunts. We now find young bears arriving each spring in the D.C. suburbs (and occasionally in town).

The red fox, a small predator seldom seen in the 1960s, is today commonplace in the wooded parts of the District. When bicycling to work not long ago, I encountered a gray fox one morning at the intersection of M and 20th Street. And of course, the coyote, first camera-trapped in Rock Creek Park in 2004, has now become a wary resident of the woodlands throughout the Washington area — causing alarm to owners of free-ranging cats and lap dogs.

This is all part of the long-term rewilding of the east. As a child I could only dream of seeing a wild turkey. These days, the big game birds appear in suburban back yards, the aggressive gobblers insolently stalking wary residents. What’s next? The discovery of the bobcat indicates the rewilding continues. Perhaps the next arrival will be the fisher, a cunning but little-known weasel that hunts for rabbits and other small, forest-dwelling mammals.

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And then, of course, there is the chance of an errant mountain lion. One of its favorite prey species is the white-tailed deer — hyper-abundant here. Every year brings sightings of mountain lions in the Appalachians, though they almost always remain unconfirmed. Yet in 2011 a young male that was radio-collared in South Dakota wandered east to Milford, Conn., where it was struck and killed by a car. It’s about time a top predator returns to the D.C. area, to bring us some humility when we walk the canal towpath in the dusk of a winter’s afternoon.