Grizzly Bear Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)The National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service have announced a decision to actively restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades of Washington State, where the animals once roamed.
News Releases4.25.24 Agencies announce decision to restore grizzly bears to North Cascades Frequently Asked Questions April 2024Restoration Process The National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) have decided to actively restore a population of grizzly bears to the U.S. portion of the North Cascades ecosystem (NCE), part of their historic range, by translocating the animals from other ecosystems.
Agencies will seek to move three to seven grizzly bears per year for a period of five to 10 years to establish an initial population of 25 bears. Grizzly bears occupied the North Cascades region for thousands of years as an important part of the ecosystem. Restoring this important species increases biodiversity and returns a keystone species to the environment. The species is also culturally significant to some Tribes and First Nations.
Additionally, the NPS is directly responsible for implementing the NPS Organic Act and FWS is responsible for implementing the Endangered Species Act. These laws require the agencies to recover, protect, and preserve threatened and endangered species as a public trust, to ensure future generations benefit from the same wildlife resources that we enjoy today. Restoring a population in the North Cascades would help advance the recovery of the species, currently listed as threatened in the lower 48 states. As of April 2024, there is no set timeline for when translocation of grizzly bears to the ecosystem may begin.
The NPS will publish updates on the park website and notify partners and the public of implementation plans as they develop.
Grizzly bears would be released in remote wilderness areas on NPS or U.S. Forest Service lands, including areas within the Stephen Mather, Pasayten, and Glacier Peak wilderness areas. A map outlining potential release areas is included on page 31 of the final EIS.
Criteria for acceptable release sites would include the following:
Staging areas are where bears for translocation will be transferred from one form of transportation to another (ie: from a truck to helicopter). Grizzly bears would be transported from the staging area as soon as possible by helicopter and would likely remain at the staging areas for only a few hours, depending on weather and helicopter availability. Staging areas should not be confused with potential release sites, which would be areas that are more remote. Grizzly bears that would be considered optimal candidates for capture and release would be independent subadults between 2 and 5 years of age that had not yet reproduced and had exhibited no history of human conflict. The target sex ratio for initial releases would be approximately 60% to 80% female and 20% to 40% male.
Source populations of bears will be from areas that have similar types of food available for grizzly bears (a similar “food economy”). Additionally, these source populations must be large and stable enough that they would have the ability to sustain the loss of individuals. These populations could include the Northern Continental Divide, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, or interior British Columbia.
Translocated grizzly bears will be fitted with radio collars that periodically provide wildlife managers updates on the movement of the animals.
No. Bears previously involved in human-bear conflicts in other ecosystems will not be considered for translocation into the NCE.
After an initial population of 25 grizzly bears is established, it could take 60-100 years for the population to reach 200. It is likely that these bears would be seen only rarely by people during the first 10 to 20 years of restoration.
A 10(j) experimental population is a special designation for a group of plants or animals that are restored in an area that is geographically isolated from other populations of the listed species.
Congress specifically added the provision for experimental populations under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act to address landowner concerns that reintroduction of threatened or endangered species may result in restrictions on the use of private, Tribal, or public land. See a 10(j) fact sheet for more information. The 10(j) rule from FWS, published on May 3, 2024, provides a variety of flexibilities for land managers and communities to manage a restored population of grizzly bears. Among these tools:
In the Ecosystem The NCE is a large ecosystem in north central Washington state and south central British Columbia. The United States portion of the ecosystem is about 9,800 square miles, larger in size than the state of New Jersey. Roughly 85% of the area is under federal management.
The last confirmed sighting of a grizzly bear in the U.S. portion of the NCE was in 1996. The last female with young was seen in 1991. A study on historical grizzly bear reports and sightings in the North Cascades is available online.
A key part of the ecosystem, grizzly bears keep other wildlife populations in balance and distribute native plant seeds within and across elevations.
Considered an opportunistic forager, grizzly bears eat a variety of plant and animal species ranging from grasses, fungi, berries, and seeds, to fish, carrion, and other meat sources (e.g., young and weakened animals, carrion, insects, fish, and small mammals). They will sometimes take kills from other predators and will occasionally kill large animals themselves.
The NCE is isolated from populations that exist elsewhere. The nearest grizzly bear populations in British Columbia are small and potential connectivity pathways between the nearest healthy populations in British Columbia and the NCE are increasingly fragmented. In order for more viable grizzly bear populations to move south from Canada, they would have to cross a considerable amount of manmade infrastructure that tends to impede grizzly bear movement.
Similar barriers and a large distance make movement from the Selkirk ecosystem in northeast Washington unlikely. Recent ecological modeling suggests the likely carrying capacity under current conditions for the NCE is approximately 280 grizzly bears. Additionally, studies have indicated that in the face of climate change, high-quality grizzly habitat is projected to increase through the end of the century, and the number of grizzly bears the NCE could support is projected to rise.
Impacts While short-term closures may be necessary for certain wildlife management activities, grizzly bear restoration will not require long-term closures.
Roads on federal lands within the North Cascades ecosystem have been managed with grizzly bears in mind since the publication of the North Cascades chapter of the grizzly bear recovery plan in 1997. Care has been taken to maintain road systems in a way to ensure secure habitat for bears while meeting the needs of people. Most human-grizzly bear conflicts are associated with concentrations of attractants, such as orchards, beehives, chickens, garbage, and cattle and sheep calving areas. Impacts could be mitigated in part by providing grizzly bear education to residents, including education on the use of electric fencing, livestock husbandry practices, and food storage. The 10(j) rule from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposes additional management tools to help avoid and mitigate conflict.
Grizzly bear restoration is not expected to have population-level impacts on salmon populations in the NCE. While it is possible that grizzly bears, as opportunistic omnivores, could use fish as a food source, fish are not expected to be a primary food source.
Salmon consumption is generally higher in coastal habitat than interior habitats such as the NCE. Of salmon consumed by coastal black bears with a highly piscivorous diet, a study on Moresby Island, British Columbia, found that 79%–80% of consumed salmon were partially or completely spawned-out at the time of capture by bears (Reimchen 2000). Any opportunistic capture of a live salmon would likely be of a post-spawned adult fish and therefore impacts would be insignificant. The agencies also undertook a consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service and determined that a restoration of grizzly bears is not likely to adversely affect ESA-listed salmon. In other parts of their range, grizzly bears coexist with numerous carnivores such as wolves and black bears. While some competition for food is certainly likely in the NCE, the wildlife impacts of restoring grizzly bears after prolonged absence are largely unknown. It is expected that some black bears would be displaced or even killed by grizzly bears. Grizzly bears would likely steal food from cougars and wolves, as well as compete for carrion with wolverines and other medium to large carnivores. There is no expectation that predators would flee the area into adjacent human-occupied areas, but rather that species would adjust behaviorally within their range. Human-dominated landscapes are typically much more uncertain to wildlife than are wildlife species-dominated landscapes.
Grizzly bears occasionally attack livestock; and in some cases, depredations can become chronic. We expect the number of grizzly bear depredations to be low while the population of bears is small. However, depredations could increase as the population grows.
The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) recommends a variety of non-lethal and preventative deterrent options for reducing and avoiding conflicts. Those recommendations can be found at: https://igbconline.org/be-bear-aware/agriculture/ The designation of an 10(j) nonessential experimental population, when finalized, will provide managers with additional tools to prevent and manage potential conflicts. Decision Process The NPS and FWS began an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process evaluating various alternatives for restoring grizzly bears to the NCE in November 2022. As part of one of the alternatives being evaluated, FWS also began simultaneous rulemaking process to consider designating an experimental population under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act.
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 requires federal agencies to prepare an EIS for major federal actions that have the potential to significantly affect the quality of the human environment. An agency must look at the impacts of its proposed action, as well as reasonable alternatives for accomplishing its objective, in this case restoring a self-sustaining grizzly bear population to the U.S. portion of the NCE. An analysis of what would happen as a result of taking no action is also required. There were numerous opportunities for the public to be involved and comment in the process. This EIS process invited formal public comment during the scoping and draft EIS phases.
A 30-day public comment period during the scoping phase began on November 14, 2022. Four virtual public meetings took place during this period and more than 6,000 comments were received during scoping. A 45-day public comment period on the draft EIS began on September 29, 2023. Four in-person meetings around the ecosystem and one virtual public meeting took place during this period. More than 12,000 comments were received on both the draft EIS and proposed 10(j) rule. Yes. A previous EIS process on this issue began in 2014. In 2020, the Department of Interior terminated that process after release of a draft EIS.Discussion of grizzly bear restoration in the North Cascades more broadly goes back even further. A North Cascades chapter was added to the National Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan in 1997 and calls for an EIS process to evaluate alternatives, including population augmentation.
Bear SafetyThere are many things you can do to prevent conflict with grizzly bears while visiting, living, and recreating in bear country. These include securing attractants, maintaining awareness of your surroundings, hiking in groups when possible, and avoiding surprising bears. See additional information on bear safety.The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee recommends the following to safely avoid grizzly bear encounters while recreating in grizzly bear habitat:
Black bears already occupy the areas that grizzly bears may inhabit in the future, and much of the human behavior needed to avoid conflict with that species applies to recreation around grizzly bears as well. Learning how to safely recreate in black bear country goes a very long way to learning how to recreate where there are grizzly bears. The national park and national forests are already addressing the high-risk elements of potential human-grizzly bear conflict by requiring and/or increasing awareness of, proper backcountry food storage and by installing bear resistant garbage disposal systems and food storage lockers in campgrounds in order to reduce human-black bear conflict. |
Last updated: May 7, 2024