Plan could move Montana grizzlies to North Cascades

In a few years, some grizzly bears from Northwest Montana could have new homes in the North Cascades Ecosystem of Washington and British Columbia. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service earlier this year released a draft environmental impact statement to reintroduce the iconic species back to the Cascades. At least some of the bears would come from Northwest Montana if the project comes to fruition.

The 6.1 million acre North Cascades have a smattering of grizzlies in Canada and in the U.S., the last known breeding female was seen in the early 1990s. The bears were hunted and trapped to near extinction by the Hudson Bay Co. about 200 years ago, noted Park Service spokesman Jack Oelfke.

Isolated by both geography and human barriers like highways and railroads, the bears have little chance of re-establishing populations on their own.

The EIS suggests four different alternatives for reestablishing bears in the North Cascades, with a population goal of 200 bears.

One alternative would release 10 bears at a single remote site on Park Service or Forest Service lands in the North Cascades over two consecutive summers. Grizzly bears that would be considered appropriate candidates for capture and release would be typically independent subadults between 2 and 5 years of age that had not yet reproduced and had exhibited no history of human conflict.

Those bears would be monitored for four years and if need be, another 10 bears would be released.

Another alternative would release approximately five to seven grizzly bears into the North Cascades each year over roughly five to 10 years, with a goal of establishing an initial population of 25 grizzly bears. After that goal has been reached, more bears could be released.

Like the first alternative, it would take 60 to 100 years to reach 200 bears.

The third alternative is an accelerated approach which would not limit the population goal for the initial restoration phase to 25 animals and would not set a limit for the number of grizzly bears released into the North Cascades. Rather, the number of suitable grizzly bears captured in a given year would be released — roughly five to seven bears. Capture and release efforts would continue each year as necessary until a combination of release efforts and reproduction results in a population of approximately 200 grizzly bears on the landscape.

The fourth alternative would keep the status quo and not reintroduce any bears.

Wayne Kasworm, the acting grizzly bear recover coordinator for the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem said Northwest Montana likely has enough bears to accommodate some of the project.

“I believe we would have enough bears to accomplish this, but there would be a separate analysis to determine if and how many bears could be provided and how to distribute these removals around the population to ensure we don’t take too many from one place and still allow for the bear or two per year we have been putting in the Cabinet-Yaak,” he said in an email to the Hungry Horse News.

The NCDE has about 1,000 bears and there has been movement to delist the bears here from the Endangered Species List.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already been transplanting bears from Northwest Montana into the Cabinet-Yaak for several years now.

“Of the five to seven bears per year for the Cascades, three to four would come from Montana and the rest from British Columbia,” Kasworm noted.

Both regions have similar habitat, both Kasworm and Oelfke said. Huckleberries, serviceberries and other bear foods are abundant.

The North Cascades already has a good black bear population and the park already takes bear precautions because of black bears, Oelfke said.

Public reaction in Washington has been mixed. There are those that think the bears were here first, and thus should be restored. There are also concerns from farmers and ranchers and recreational users alike. The west side of the ecosystem has a lot of orchards and ranches, Oelfke said.

The bear release areas, however, are largely designated wilderness, the plan notes. Helicopters would be used to drop bears into remote locations.

The public comment period on the plan runs through the end of the month and it will take a year before a record of decision is released. In addition, the bears could be classified as an “experimental” population, like wolves were when they were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s.

That classification would allow managers more flexibility in dealing with the bruins.

All told, it could take upwards of three years for a final decision to be made if the bears are considered an experimental population, since that process takes an additional 12 to 18 months, Oelfke noted.

The full EIS can be downloaded and commented on at the North Cascades National Park website at: https://www.nps.gov/noca/grizzly.htm

Comments will be accepted until the end of the month.