Conservation Northwest updates
4 Summer 2016 conservationnw.org
Restoring grizzly bears
What's next for
North Cascades
grizzlies
long roaD to restoration
Joe Scott International Conservation Director,
joe@conservationnw.org
Grizzly bear recovery is nothing if not process. For the
Cascades that process already spans two and a half decades. It
goes back to 1975 if you count other areas where the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has been working to restore
grizzlies to a small portion of their former range.
e effort to restore grizzlies to the North Cascades began
in 1986 when habitat biologists undertook a six year study to
determine whether a roughly three million acre, 10,000 square
mile area of contiguous park, wilderness and national forests
could support a viable grizzly bear population. e study led
to the designation of the North Cascades as a "Grizzly Bear
Recovery Zone" in 1991 alongside four others in Montana,
Wyoming and Idaho.
Together these five recovery zones would represent the last
strongholds of an iconic animal that had once lived virtually
everywhere west of the Mississippi, from plains to mountains
to sea, in the tens of thousands.
In 1997 the USFWS approved the North Cascades "Re-
covery Plan" which recommended preliminary actions for re-
covery. But it did not mandate or set in motion a full range of
recovery actions. It did create a subcommittee of government
agency reps with direction to manage the recovery zone for
grizzly bear conservation.
e 1997 plan recommended one critical action that
wouldn't get underway for another 18 years—initiation of an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that would engage the
public in possible recovery strategies, including proposals for
bear transplants. It had become obvious to wildlife biologists
that North Cascades grizzlies wouldn't recover without help.
We are now one year into the three year EIS. e first or
"scoping" phase completed last year included six public meet-
ings in communities around the recovery zone and a 60-day
public comment period. During this period, strong support
for grizzly bear restoration was demonstrated by Conserva-
tion Northwest and Washingtonians from around our state.
In fall 2016 wildlife officials are expected to release a Dra
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that will propose a
range of grizzly recovery alternatives. We hope the preferred
strateg y will include the transplant of bears into this ecosys-
tem, something science shows is required for the population
to gain a foothold towards recovery.
e next few months will likely determine whether our
children and grandchildren will ever see grizzly bears in the
North Cascades in their lifetimes. Restoring grizzly bears will
not be easy; it will take time and patience. And it will only
work with the support of local communities.
Grizzly bears are a vital part of our region's ecosystems and
thus of our natural heritage. ey're a yardstick to gauge the
health of our wild places. ey've lived in the North Cascades
for tens of thousands of years. Now it's up to all of us to build
support for restoring them before it's too late. For a wild fu-
ture that includes grizzly bears, please make sure your voice is
heard loud and clear on this issue.
A grizzly bear takes a dip in Chilko Lake, British Columbia, while
searching for sockeye salmon. Photo: Jeremy Williams
The North Cascades is one of five recovery
zones representing the last strongholds of
an iconic animal that once lived virtually
everywhere west of the Mississippi.
