Federal officials want your thoughts on grizzly reintroduction plans

Federal officials are considering several possibilities to bring grizzly bears to Washington’s North Cascades. These agencies would like to hear people’s thoughts on how to move forward.

Grizzly bears played an important part of the North Cascades ecosystem for thousands of years. Now, biologists say only a handful of grizzly bears likely live there. So few that biologists consider the bears functionally extinct in the area — unless more grizzlies aren’t brought in from places like Montana, Wyoming, or interior British Columbia.

The bears were listed as threatened in the lower 48 states in 1975, but lots of areas have seen grizzlies recover well, like in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. That’s different for most of Washington. (There are populations of the bears in the Selkirk Mountains, which span the northeastern part of the state.)

The North Cascades Ecosystem is cut off from other areas that have a lot of grizzly bears. It also spans from the United States into Canada. Recent models have found the U.S. side of the ecosystem could support around 280 grizzly bears.

The last time a grizzly bear was confirmed on the U.S. side of the border was in 1996.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Parks Service have released a draft environmental impact statement that considers several options for grizzlies in the area. One option is to do nothing.

A second option would restore around 200 grizzlies to the area and give them Endangered Species Act protections.

The preferred option would make North Cascades grizzlies an experimental population, called a10(j) designation. That would give more flexibility in managing bears that cause conflicts. The 10(j) rule has its own comment period. According to the plan, the designation would help “promote social tolerance and human safety.”