Grizzly bears back in North Cascades? Tell feds what you think
A federal study on recovery and reintroduction of grizzly bears in Washington's North Cascades, mysteriously suspended last fall, is once again open for comment.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service are preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the principal potential recovery area for Ursus horribilis outside the Rocky Mountains.
The last shooting of a grizzly bear in the Cascades came in 1964, up Fisher Creek in a valley that four years later would become part of the North Cascades National Park.
But the bears are part of the heritage of the range. An elderly Bill Louden, namesake of Louden Lake in the Pasyaten Wilderness, recalled riding up to a ridge crest, and spotting a grizzly lumbering up from the other side. A favorable wind allowed man and steed to beat a hasty retreat.
A more recent picture, much debated was taken atop Sahale Arm in the national park, and showed bear with familiar hump on a ridge crest to the north.
The total grizzly bear population in the North Cascades is estimated at fewer than 10 animals, including so-called transient grizzlies -- a helluva name to call a bear -- who visit from British Columbia.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/grizzly-bears-back-in-north-cascades-tell-feds-what-you-think/ar-AAERj7e