Grizzly bears returning to North Cascades
The National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced the decision today to actively restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades of Washington.
Grizzly bears used to occupy the North Cascades region before the population declined primarily due to human hunting, with the last confirmed sighting in 1996.
The decision to finally return the bears to the region is a result of the Environmental Impact Statement process that began in 2022. In the Record of Decision released Thursday, agencies announced their decision to restore the bears to the ecosystem through the translocation of grizzly bears from other ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains and British Columbia.
The bears will be designated as a nonessential experimental population under the Endangered Species Act, providing authorities and land managers with additional tools for management.
Agencies will seek to move three to seven grizzly bears per year for a period of five to ten years to establish an initial population of 25 bears.
“We are going to once again see grizzly bears on the landscape, restoring an important thread in the fabric of the North Cascades,” said Don Striker, Superintendent of North Cascades National Park Service Complex.
Public feedback played a key role in the decision.
While there is no set timeline for when translocation of grizzly bears to the ecosystem may begin, the National Park Service will publish updates of implementation plans as they develop.
For more information, visit the National Parks Service website.
