It sounds a little ironic that an environmental impact statement would be necessary to restore a wildlife species to its native habitat, but if a proposal to bring back the grizzly bear to the North Cascades is going to be accepted, it needs explanation and consideration through a public process.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service have begun a review of the proposal to rebuild the grizzly bear population in the North Cascades Ecosystem, a 2.6 million-acre swath of land spreading from I-90 north and extending into Canada, which includes lands managed by National Parks, the Forest Service and other agencies.
In a range that likely supported thousands of bears before fur-hunting in the 19th century nearly wiped them out, five or fewer grizzlies are estimated to live in the North Cascades south of the Canadian border. There has been only one sighting of a solitary bear in the last decade. About 20 grizzlies are estimated to live in British Columbia’s portion of the ecosystem. Between 1,400 and 1,700 grizzlies live in four other ecosystems in the West in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, but that is the extent of their range and numbers in the lower 48 states. They have been listed as a threatened species by the federal government since 1975.
A previous study has determined that the North Cascades is capable of supporting a self-sustaining grizzly population. Any work to restore the bears to the ecosystem will happen only gradually. Even bringing in a few bears of reproductive age won’t result in a baby bear boom. Grizzlies typically give birth to one or two cubs every three or four years, and cub survival is about 50 percent.
While it’s likely very few of us would ever see a grizzly in the North Cascades, even if the repopulation work sees some level of success in the next 50 years, there are steps that outdoor enthusiasts should already be taking to limit contact with all bears in the wilderness. The bears aren’t the master predators they are often made out to be and are most likely to eat insects, plants, fish and scavenged carrion.
This is not to say there is no risk in returning grizzlies to the North Cascades. But risk is inherent in nature. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Wyoming and Montana, which supports about 590 bears, had two fatal grizzly attacks in 2011, but Yellowstone’s last fatal attack prior to that was in 1984.
The process of completing an environmental impact statement on the repopulation plan includes a series of public meetings that begin today in Winthrop and continue with meetings on March 10 in Seattle and March 11 in Bellingham. The meetings will give people a chance to learn more about and comment on how the plan will be carried out and how concerns for public safety, livestock, recreation and other issues are addressed.
We as a nation have set aside the various lands of the North Cascades for a variety of uses, including resource production, recreation and wilderness preservation. Preserving the wild nature of the North Cascades requires we preserve the wildlife that lives within it as a functioning ecosystem and not as a sterile forest.
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