Washington State to Reintroduce Grizzly Bears
Following recent trends of reintroduction (for example, wolf reintroductions in Colorado) the National Park Service and US Fish and Wildlife filed a decision to reintroduce brown (grizzly) bears to Washington a couple weeks ago.
First things first: brown vs. grizzly bears?
From my post “Worldwide Bears”: Brown bears and grizzly bears are the same species (Ursus arctos). But, different names refer to specific subpopulations of brown bears. “Grizzly bears” generally refers to the brown bears in the interior United States - and some consider these to be part of a subspecies, Ursus arctos horribilis - while the term “brown bears” is usually applied to those in Alaska and Canada. Meanwhile, you may have heard of Kodiak bears - they are considered to be coastal brown bears specifically living in the Kodiak Archipelago (just south of Alaska).
For the purposes of this post, I will use the term “grizzly” bears.
Photo Credit: Grand Teton National Parks Service. Flickr.
The History of Washington’s Grizzly Bears
Like other states in the western United States, grizzly bears used to be a widely-dispersed species in Washington. However, when white colonizers arrived in what is now the western United States, grizzly bears were nearly wiped out for both safety concerns and profit from their pelts.
According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, there are very few grizzly bears remaining in the state; they are infrequently observed near the Canadian border in the Selkirk Mountains. Their population is extremely fragmented and they are considered endangered at a state level and threatened federally; they have not been sighted in the North Cascades (both the national park and the region as a whole) since 1996.
The small population size of grizzly bears in Washington - and in nearby states Idaho and Montana - makes them vulnerable to extreme events, disease, and low genetic diversity (inbreeding).
About Washington’s Bear Reintroduction
Colorado remains unique in that we are the first state to initiate a species reintroduction on the state level, rather than national - the decision in Washington follows the precedent for species reintroductions, where national agencies start the process of species reintroduction.
Photo Credit: US FWS Mountain-Prairie, Flickr.
In the Colorado wolf reintroductions, one of the primary arguments in support of reintroduction was that an established wolf population in Colorado would connect northern and southern populations of wolves, allowing for more genetic diversity. This argument is relevant to grizzly bears in Washington as well; the more bears in a population, the greater the genetic diversity, and therefore the more resilient the population.
Other arguments for and against grizzly bear reintroduction are outlined in the infographic below; if you are using a screen reader, please click here for a detailed description of the infographic.
Infographic created by Hailey Robe using Canva.
While some of these arguments require further exploration - such as movement of reintroduced bears - this infographic provides an overview of the potential pros and cons of grizzly bear reintroduction.
What to Expect
The National Parks Service (NPS) and US Fish and Wildlife Service (US FWS) plan to utilize culvert traps to catch 3-7 grizzly bears and transport them by helicopter to the potential release areas outlined in the map below each summer for 5-10 years. They will be looking for bears with the following characteristics:
Bears from the Rocky Mountains or interior-based British Columbia;
Bears with berry-based diets; and
Bears with no history of conflict with humans.
Photo Credit: Mark Nowlin, The Seattle Times.
Like the wolves in Colorado, the NPS and US FWS plan to “designate the bears as a nonessential experimental population” under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act, which provides them with flexibility in management techniques.
Although there were more than 12,000 public comments on the proposed 10(j) rule both in support and opposition of grizzly bear reintroduction, we can expect to see significant pushback as the process continues. Residents are primarily concerned with the safety of themselves and their families;
However, if grizzly bear reintroduction moves forward, it could easily be five to ten years before even a couple grizzly bears are released in Washington; it will take time to locate suitable bears, designate funds, and finalize plans for reintroduction. I will post updates as they become available!
For more information on grizzly bears, check out my other resources:
Also, read more about the grizzly bear reintroduction plan from the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife here.
