Comments for the North Cascades Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Restoration Program are due April 28, 2017. There is one thing you can do that is more powerful than calling your representatives and it is leaving a public comment! You need to have a United States city and state to comment.
Make sure that YOUR voice is heard (and the voices of friends and family whom you will hopefully encourage to also leave a comment).
Please REWORD the talking points below when writing your comments. Please prepare your comments in a separate document and then copy and paste them into the National Park Servie comments page.
Submit your comment in favor of Alternative C HERE.
TALKING POINTS:
- I write to ask the National Park Service to implement Alternative C which would incrementally restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades.
- Alternative C best balances the needs of people with the need for grizzly bear recovery.
- In addition to the bears added under Alternative C, bears should be added as is necessary to maintain genetic diversity and positive population growth.
- There are only around 10 grizzly bears left in the North Cascades. There is not enough connectivity for the population to access other bear populations. As a result, letting grizzlies repopulate the area naturally has not been successful.
- If no action is taken and grizzlies are not purposefully restored to the North Cascades that population, which consists of only 10 or so bears, would likely go extinct.
- In addition to supporting Alternative C, I ask that the Service protect connectivity corridors. Linkage zones are essential for species recovery.
- I also ask that the Service considers introducing MORE bears than initially proposed to ensure successful restoration. An isolated population of 200 bears will not be viable. Instead, the Service should aim for a goal of 500 bears.
- Further, I would ask that more recovery area be considered. It is well established that the larger the recovery area - for grizzlies - the more likely recovery will be successful.
- Bringing grizzly bears back to the North Cascades would enrich the ecosystem because these bears are both umbrella species and ecosystem engineers, positively impacting the health of many of the other species with which they share the ecosystem. These bears help regulate populations of elk, deer and the like as well as help fertilize the forests.
- There is no scientific or legal justification for the use of an “experimental non-essential” classification for an North Cascades Ecosystem population.
- Special attention should be paid to roads, which increase conflict with grizzlies as well as mortality.
- The Service needs to come up with a better plan for reducing conflict with livestock operators and rancher compensation programs.
