I'm Jason Epperson. This is the America's National Parks Podcast and it's time for the latest in National Park news.

The National Park Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service have announced a decision to actively restore

Grizzly Bears to the North Cascades of Washington, where the animals once roamed.

Grizzly Bears occupied the North Cascades region for thousands of years as a key part of the ecosystem,

distributing native plant seeds and keeping other wildlife populations in balance.

Populations declined primarily due to direct killing by humans. The last confirmed

sighting of a grizzly bear in the U.S. portion of the North Cascades ecosystem was in 1996.

The agencies have decided to translocate grizzly bears from other ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains

or Interior British Columbia.

The decision is the culmination of an environmental impact

statement process that began back in 2022. They'll move 3 to 7

grislies per year for a period of 5 to 10 years to establish an initial population of 25 bears.

The U.S. portion of the North Cascades ecosystem is roughly 9,800 square miles in size

larger than the state of New Jersey, and contain some of the most intact

wildlands in the contiguous U.S.

Roughly 85 percent of the mountainous region is under federal management.

Under the decision, Grizzly Bears in the North Cascades will be designated as a non-essential

experimental population under the Endangered Species Act.

That designation will provide authorities with additional tools for management that would not otherwise

be available under the Endangered Species Act regulations.

That's primarily to address concerns about human safety, property, and livestock.

There's no set timeline for when the grizzly bears will begin to be moved.

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