Get ready to roar for a cause that truly matters. Grizzly bears once roamed Washington’s Northern Cascade Mountains for thousands of years - but have since been hunted, trapped, poisoned to death, and exterminated from the wildest parts of our state.
Since 2015, the Sierra Club has supported restoring grizzly bears to their ancestral homelands in the North Cascades. Right now, the National Park Service is accepting public comments on their draft grizzly bear restoration plan until 10:59 P.M., Monday, November 13th, 2023.
Grizzly bears are a keystone species whose presence contributes to the health of our wildlands. Their presence is a sign of a fully wild and intact landscape that supports all life.
We know from successful efforts in the Northern Rockies that it is absolutely possible to live, work and recreate with grizzly bears on the landscape. Conflicts can be prevented through proven, effective measures.
Help grizzlies make a comeback in Washington and contribute to the vibrant North Cascades ecosystem. Help protect and enhance biodiversity and the wild character of the North Cascades.
Before 11:00 P.M. tonight (November 13th), please take a moment to:
- Copy the advocacy text located below the grizzly bear graphic.
- Click on the link highlighted above or the graphic itself to go to the NPS public comment page.
- Fill out your contact information and paste the advocacy text from step 1.
Letter to copy / paste into NPS comment page:
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to support the restoration of grizzly bears to the North Cascades Ecosystem, their historic range for thousands of years. Where grizzly bears thrive, so does clean water, and abundant native fish and wildlife populations.
I support Alternative C but with needed changes to the proposed 10(j) rule. The proposal would bring up to 25 non-conflict grizzly bears - likely from Montana - into remote areas of the North Cascades over the next decade and manage them as an experimental population.
The proposed 10(j) rule as currently written fails to give grizzlies the best chance to succeed and is too permissible in allowing reintroduced bears to be killed.
- Lethal removal of a grizzly bear should only be considered where there is a demonstrable threat to human safety, and, for non-immediate threats to human safety, only after non-lethal management options, including concerted use of conflict prevention methods, have been exhausted.
- No grizzly bears should be hazed or relocated as a result of conflict with livestock unless demonstrable, repeated efforts have been made by the livestock producer to prevent such conflicts, using commonly-available techniques.
- No grizzly bears should be killed on public lands as a result of livestock depredation.
- Landowners/private citizens should not be given a permit, or otherwise authorized, to kill a grizzly bear.
- No grizzly bear should be preemptively relocated if the bear is not a threat to human safety, particularly if the bear has not become habituated or food-conditioned, or when nonnatural foods/attractants have not been properly secured and made inaccessible to bears. Doing so acts as a disincentive for communities to employ conflict prevention measures, and increases the risk to the bear of injury or death from capture and relocation.
These changes are crucial in providing adequate protection for grizzly bears.
Public opinion polls have shown broad support for grizzly bear restoration in Washington, including among those who live in the North Cascades. Please bring back this native species to our state through the strategy laid out in Alternative C and with appropriate changes to Section 10(j). Doing so will restore an important piece of our ecosystem, regional culture, and natural heritage.