Feds seek new comments on grizzly bear plans
DARRINGTON — Controversial proposals to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades ecosystem are once again open for public comment.
The plan, drafted by the National Park Service and U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, drew mixed responses from locals in 2017.
It includes four options for grizzly bear recovery. Three would bring bears in from elsewhere to bolster the local population. The goal would be to reach 200 bears. A fourth proposal calls for continuing current efforts to keep habitat healthy, but would not bring in additional bears.
Grizzlies were listed as a threatened species in the U.S. in 1975 and as endangered in Washington in 1980. Now, scientists do not have enough evidence to say there is any population in the North Cascades.
Work on the proposals was halted by the Trump administration in December of 2017.
Then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke ordered work stop on a key planning document — the environmental impact statement for the grizzly restoration project. He then restarted that work in 2018.
The document is available for review online.
In 2017, it received over 126,000 comments from the public.
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