THE RETURN OF GRIZZLIES TO THE NW

In Washington's Cascades, they have been absent for more than fifty years

Of the estimated 55,000 Grizzly Bears in North America, most are found in Canada and Alaska.  Only 1800 are thought to live in Montana and perhaps as many as a thousand in Wyoming, mostly in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Idaho and Washington are thought to have another 600 Grizzlies.  In Alaska, they are known as Brown Bears. On Kodiak Island, they are called Kodiak Bears.    On average, grizzly bears near the coast tend to be larger while inland grizzlies tend to be smaller.    

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed reintroducing Grizzly Bears to the North Cascades region of Northern Washington state where they are absent – in order to reestablish a more complete ecosystem. The objective would be to capture Grizzlies in other areas with similar food resources, transport them by truck and helicopter and release about five animals annually until a total population of about thirty bears is present in the region. Local residents along SR 20 have mixed responses to the proposal but several Indian tribes in the area are welcoming the reintroduction. Canadian wildlife authorities are considering a similar transplant of bears just north of the border, allowing the two groups of bears to merge. In time, Grizzlies could inhabit areas to the west as far as Ross Lake, to the east to the west bank of the Columbia River and as far south as Interstate 90.

USFWS believes wolves are repopulating the area without human assistance, as are wolverines and cougar. With hostile Republican Governors, Idaho and Montana are not receptive to such reintroductions, making it important for wildlife advocacy groups to mount a concerted campaign on behalf of complete wildlife ecosystems in those states.