OLYMPIA, Wash.
Federal agencies will seek to move three to seven grizzly bears annually for five to ten years to establish an initial population of 25 bears.
Agencies say the U.S. portion of the North Cascades ecosystem is roughly 9,800 square miles in size, more significant than the state of New Jersey, and contains some of the most intact wildlands in the contiguous U.S. Roughly 85% of the mountainous region is under federal management.
“We are going to once again see grizzly bears on the landscape, restoring an important thread in the fabric of the North Cascades,” said Don Striker, Superintendent of North Cascades National Park Service Complex.
NPS does not have a timetable for when the bears will be reintroduced, but updates will be posted on its website.
