Rewilding with large herbivores: The importance of grazing refuges for sapling establishment and wood-pasture formation

•Rewilding aims to restore ecological processes with minimum human intervention.•It can be applied on abandoned agricultural lands to restore wood pasture landscapes.•We studied effects on sapling establishment in Europe’s oldest rewilding area.•We found that grazing refuges are essential for sapling establishment.•Rewilding projects should warrant grazing refuges for wood pasture restoration.