SEATTLE — The Department of Interior has completed its environmental impact statement and identified a preferred plan to restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades ecosystem, setting the stage for an American conservation success story. Grizzlies are integral to a healthy forest and mountain habitat, and the North Cascades ecosystem is one of six Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones designated by the federal government.

“Restoring grizzly bears to their traditional habitat in the North Cascades is deeply important to Indigenous and Pacific Northwest communities and to the heath of local ecosystems,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “We wholeheartedly support this essential step by the Interior Department and look forward to working with Tribal governments, local partners, and the federal government to restore a healthy population of grizzly bears to the Pacific Northwest.”

“We have been working for decades to see grizzly bears restored in this critical ecosystem,“ said Conservation Northwest Executive Director Mitch Friedman. “After many disappointments, we are deeply grateful that the Biden administration has finally made it possible to bring this vital species home.” 

An estimated 50,000 grizzly bears once inhabited the United States, but by 1975 the population had fallen so far that the species was listed under the Endangered Species Act.