Thursday, January 19th 2017
SEATTLE — The threatened majestic and mighty grizzly bear hasn’t been seen in the North Cascade for more than 20 years.
But that could be changing. A preliminary draft plan has been unveiled to reintroduce grizzlies into North Central Washington.
“This project would bring the grizzly bears, these magnificent symbols of wilderness, and bring back the ecological function that grizzly bears provide to the ecosystem,” said Fred Koontz, vice president of field conservation at the Woodland Park Zoo.
If the plan moves forward – over the next five years, up five bears annually would be captured from other locations and brought to the most remote areas of the North Cascades.
“We hear about people who like to experience a wild North Cascades, with all its native species, including grizzly bears,” said Chase Gunnell of Conservation Northwest, “and from people who want more information on how they can co-exist with these animals.”
Alex Lansa, who supports reintroducing the animals to the North Cascades, has spent the four summers on the trail crew at Yellowstone National Park and has experienced grizzly bears first hand.
“I think it’s exciting…seeing a bear is one of the most thrilling things that can happen.”
The proposed reintroduction does have opposition from ranchers.
The Washington Cattleman’s Association released a statement to us that says in part:
“The WCA strongly opposes the proposed action to reintroduce grizzly bears into Washington State. We believe that grizzly bear recovery and recolonization must occur naturally with human augmentation.”
But conservationist Fred Koontz says the bears would be far away from civilization, tagged and monitored by biologist daily in hopes of bringing back up to 200 bears over the next century.
“This whole process is a wonderful learning exercise for the scientist and the public to see how we can bring back the health of ecology and the bears in our state.”
The draft plan is open for public comment until March. 17.
Exposing the Big Game 
I love the idea – but from experience we know that there will be a group that will totally oppose it, and those who will want to trophy hunt them. And of course – they’ll have to be ‘managed’ as some point by meddling humans, and shot if they unknowingly become the victim of human entitlements and failures. So I have mixed feelings about it, but I do have hope.
There will be some who ask why can’t I ever be positive – why? Because I have been following these things, and human behavior, for most of my life. Nothing ever changes. I am a realist.
They should be reintroduced conditionally, only if we get the hunters the ranchers and urban developers, and put a limit of no more than two children per couple, then yes, they will have a chance. Otherwise why bother, to give hunters the thrill and opportunity of killing grizzlies for trophy?
I have no qualms with restoring the natural order but this reintroduction will end in the same way as the Yellowstone wolf reintroduction project. Washington Fish and Wildlife will remove the grizzly from the ESA at whatever time they feel like it, due to pressure from hunting and ranching lobbies, and call their annual mass killings ‘scientifically based’ and ‘successful’ while ignoring the opinions of scientists who are actually competent at their jobs. It’s sad that something that should be such a joyous event can be tainted with the understanding that in spite of the good intentions, evil hands will eventually be pulling the strings.
Of course the Cascades should be re-wilded with grizzly. Wildlife fragmentation, corridors blocked is a real tragedy of wildlife biodiversity and conservation. Wildlife should be re-populated north and south, east and west, wherever there are niches, and should be corridors.
“The proposed reintroduction does have opposition from ranchers.
The Washington Cattleman’s Association released a statement to us that says in part:
“The WCA strongly opposes the proposed action to reintroduce grizzly bears into Washington State.”
This is the core problem for any wildlife re-introductions. Until the people who donate $$ to wildlife groups, demand that these groups stop compromising and fight to get livestock off public lands, no wildlife re-introductions will be successful. The Mexican Wolf Program in NM & Arizona is a glaring example. Groups and individuals who work on this program right off the bat were compromising, “working with” the very enemies of the wolf. Dave Parsons, a major player, included the infamous “Wildlife Services” in this program for “management of the introduced wolves. It has been a terrible failure.
Now, with the Trump administration, there will be no chance of saving wildlife, due to the large hunting/livestock lobby that supports this bunch.
http://www.foranimals.org
I’d love to see it, and corridors between Yellowstone, but we’re going to have to really fight for them. Pushback from ranchers and hunters is a given, but ordinary folks out hiking and ‘wreckreating’, are going to have to do their part to give ’em plenty of room. That means no getting too close for selfies, for the kiddos to see, etc. Unfortunately, self-sacrifice really isn’t in our modern vocabulary anymore.