The grizzly bear will be returning to the North Cascades mountain range in Washington state as part of a plan by the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The mountain range includes North Cascades National Park and a number of wilderness areas. About 85% of the American portion of the range — at 9,800 square miles, it is bigger than New Jersey — is federally managed.
The last confirmed sighting of a grizzly bear in the park was in 1996, the park service said Thursday. The region’s population had been ground down over the years by human predation, with most of the hunting taking place prior to 1860, according to The Associated Press.
The new grizzlies will come from other populations in the Rocky Mountains and British Columbia in Canada. For five to 10 years, officials will introduce anywhere from three to seven bears yearly into the park, establishing a starter population of 25 bears. But the park service said it hasn’t established a timeline for beginning the process.
The ecosystem can handle a population as large as 280 bears, the park service said.
As grizzly bears are omnivorous, the new population will help disperse plant seeds and cull other animal populations within the North Cascades.
“We are going to once again see grizzly bears on the landscape, restoring an important thread in the fabric of the North Cascades,” North Cascades National Park Service Complex Superintendent Don Striker said in a statement.
Some indigenous groups approved the decision.
“Just having them back as part of the ecosystem is a huge value to our culture and history. From our perspective it was a social injustice that these creatures were removed from the landscape,” Upper Skagit Tribe Policy Representative Scott Schuyler told the Seattle Times.
Other groups, however, fear the grizzlies could hurt salmon populations.
“We need to sustain our culture. We need to sustain our way of life,” former Stillaguamish Tribe chair Shawn Yanity told the Everett Herald.
Officials say the reintroduced grizzlies will come from habitats without salmon, according to the Herald, and the subsequent population will not learn the skills necessary to prey on the fish.
“If mom hasn’t had that experience, it’s less likely that the cubs are going to gain it,” Washington Conservation Science Institute Executive Director Bill Gaines told the Herald.
Ranchers and others involved in agriculture also have denounced the plan.
“Introducing an apex predator like the grizzly bear to a new area of Washington state is a mistake, and poses a huge threat to our rural communities … This plan is being pushed by bureaucrats thousands of miles away from the West who do not fully understand the harm this species will cause to producers,” National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Mark Eisele said in November.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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