Plan to reintroduce grizzlies to California runs into predictable resistance
More than a century after humans wiped them out, California’s grizzly bears may be getting a second chance, as lawmakers consider a carefully managed plan to restore a missing keystone species to its native ecosystem.
“The fears articulated about bringing grizzlies back, and all the chaos and carnage that they fear will ensue, is completely overblown,” Brendan Cummings, conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told SFGATE. “They’re big and fierce animals, but at the end of the day, they’re mostly vegetarian, minding their own business, looking for food and other things in life. And we’re an annoyance at most, and they’ll do everything in their power to avoid us.”
If a grizzly reintroduction were to take place in California, it would likely be “the most studied and carefully managed and scrutinized species reintroduction ever done in the United States,” Cummings added. A small number of bears would be placed in carefully chosen areas with ample access to food and a low likelihood of encounters with humans or cattle, he said, and each bear would be tagged and tracked using GPS collars.
“It’s a remarkable state with millions of acres of protected habitat,” Cummings said. “There are a lot of people in California, but no one’s proposing to reintroduce grizzlies into Downtown LA.”
Reintroduction of native species has been shown to reinvigorate otherwise declining ecosystems in California. The Elkhorn Slough has seen an incredible resurgence since the reintroduction of sea otters to the brackish estuary.
The grizzlies were here long before ranch fences and state lines. The question isn’t whether grizzlies belong in California, it’s whether California is willing to stand up for them.