The Grizzly Bears are extinct in California, but still appear everywhere.
The Golden Bruins adorn state flags and seals, live in cartoon-style statues as university mascots, rolling the tip of their tongues with place names such as Grizzly Flats and Big Bear Lake.
But what if we could get back the real Urshin deal?
A new study shows that they could be around 1,180. Mountains in Southern California are one of the main potential habitats of apex predators. Whether they should be there is a question for 40 million Californians and their policy makers.
The state’s official animals are adored and have cultural significance for the tribe, and researchers point out that there is a low statistical risk. However, some wildlife officials say the reintroducing grizzlies (which can run 35 mph for short bursts weighing up to 1,000 pounds) lead to an increase in conflict between humans and bears. An estimated 60,000 black bears have roamed the state, with property damage, invasions and the first confirmed fatality associated with Bruins has been headlined in recent years.
“Recovering the Grizzly Bears in California is an option,” says Alex McIntruff, co-editor and assistant unit leader of the Washington Cooperative Fish Research Unit of the US Geological Survey. “You can do that by making the necessary investments and creating the necessary partnerships to make it possible. Habitat is available. Many questions can be answered. But that’s an option.”
A grizzly stands on top of a turnip in Grand Teton National Park.
(C. Adams/Grand Teton National Park/AP)
California was home to up to 10,000 bears before the 1848 Gold Rush, but their fate quickly changed.
The loss of human-burning habitat pushed down their numbers, but their ultimate end mise was in the hands of hunters and trappers.
In 1916, the last known grizzly in Southern California was shot in the Sunland area of Lamie, becoming appropriately known as Sunland Grizzly.
Just a few years later, in the spring of 1924, California’s last known grizzly bear was discovered in Sequoia National Park.
They are unlikely to return to the state on their own, but[a] But a well-planned, resource-accumulated, well-managed reintroduction and recovery program could establish a sustainable California grizzly population in one or more recovery regions over decades,” the study said Tuesday.
Behind this study is the Grizzly Alliance Network, a group of collaborators that include researchers, tribal leaders and wildlife advocates.
Slightly more than 200 pages, the report explores novel and existing research to explore where state Bears can live and live in those fields, economic impacts, safety considerations and other aspects. Reintroducing the bear will require moving to California from where you currently live, such as Yellowstone National Park.
Using several habitat compatibility models, this study identifies three potential regions where bears can live. In a lateral range extending from the coast to the deserts of Southern California (focusing on large protected areas of the Rospadres National Forest). The entire Sierra Nevada (focused on the southern part of the range); northwest forests (including the Klamath Mountains, the Trinity Alps, and other nearby areas on the northwest corner of the state).
The study reports that the area contains large strips of protected, high-quality habitats, but does not advocate for practical use.
Assuming that bears cannot live outside of designated areas, the study estimates that California can accommodate 1,183 grizzlies.
Two young grizzly bear brothers tasling early in the morning along Pelican Creek in Yellowstone National Park.
(Jonathan Newton/Getty Images)
Researchers priced “resourced” recovery programs for up to $3 million a year for the first decade. According to the survey, it accounts for 4% of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife budget, based on figures for 2024-25.
The Grizzlies often evoke fear – as animals standing 8 feet tall with their incredible claws do – and when discussing grizzly recovery, human safety is often the greatest concern. However, the study states that the statistical risks animals pose to humans are “very small.” Of the estimated average deaths caused by wildlife each year in the United States, 96% of the US resulted from motor vehicle collisions with deer, the study reports.
Still, the risk is not zero. In North America, there are approximately 1.5 deaths related to bears each year, the researchers said.
Another 2019 study examining the attacks of brown bears (groups containing grizzlies) against humans across the majority of the global range between 2000 and 2015, found that attacks increased significantly over time.
The researchers said the increase was due to several factors, including the growth of bears and human populations, which is likely to lead to increased habitat duplication. They also noted that more and more people were recreating it at Bears Live.
Grizzly Bears also offer benefits such as dispersing seeds and dispersing sailing soil. With enough numbers, they can hold back other species like black bears.
Peter Tira, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the state lacks resources and cannot prioritize the Reintroducing Grizzlies, taking into account all existing liability.
He no longer offers a rich salmon shop that bears are thought to have once fed, or offers the opportunity to roam the now-highly developed coast, according to California. Given the widespread trend, he said there was no reason to assume that they would be placed in far-reaching areas.
“Grizzlies could potentially be reintroduced to places where people live, replicate and raise livestock, requiring further management of conflicts in human life. This is extremely challenging with the animal species here, especially mountain lions, wolves, black bears and coyotes,” Tyra said in a statement.
Bruce McClellan, a retired Grizzly Bear research ecologist and author of Grizzly Bear Science and the Art of Life in the Wilderness, initially thought the idea of reintroducing grizzlies in California was crazy. But he found that much of the population is stuck in the lower half of the state, he was heavily inspected.
In British Columbia, where McClellan lives, most of the five million people live in the southern part of the state. The area is currently supporting hundreds of grizzlies as its population is recovering over time. He said people are very adapted to their existence.
“It certainly makes me think it’s biologically possible to place a grizzly bear in the Rimotta corner in California,” he said.
Certainly, he said, it would bring about conflict – the strange bear would fall from the mountain and take someone’s chicken. You have to shoot a strange bear, but there are effective ways to deal with conflict. People need to “be careful” and potentially install electric fences, he said.
The grizzlies are also “very adaptable,” he said, noting that they don’t need to survive salmon or access to free beaches.
“A lot of people I live in like seeing Grizzles in their garden,” McClellan said. “I love it.”
But even if Californians decide they want a bear, he believes that the US doesn’t have the right process to make it happen.
McClellan was involved in efforts to restore the Grizzlies in the North Cascade of Washington and the Selway Bitter Route Wilderness Area in Montana and Idaho. But decades of money and energy haven’t made them come true, he said.
“I was involved in both of them and it made me feel discouraged,” he said.
However, Peter Aragona, professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Barbara, who led the research, is looking at California’s Grizzly Comeback as a way to dispel such ideas.
Aragona, who founded the California Grizzly Research Network in 2016, said:
Aragona also said it serves as a form of restorative justice.
In his previous position in this study, Octavio Escovedo III, chairman of the Tejon Indian tribe, emphasizes that “parallel paths” are forcing Native Americans and grizzlies to walk, and by grizzlies, the subject of the ideological subject of “promoting the relentless persecution of both native and grizzly bears.”
The Tehong tribe, as he writes, is one of hundreds of indigenous peoples who value and respect the grizzlies, making major efforts to preserve and coexist the species.
McInthulhu, a federal employee who is also an associate professor at the University of Washington, said the new study marks a turning point in the debate by providing the best science compilation available.
“There were a lot of speculation, a lot of assumptions, and now we have research that can actually speak about this topic in an informed way,” he said.
At one point, Aragona will present the findings of the study to the California Fish and Games Committee, which sets the national wildlife policy.
Last year, the committee and the state Senate passed a resolution recognising the 100th anniversary of the California Grizzly extinction, and the Senate declared 2024 as “the year of the Grizzly.”
This month marks the 101st anniversary.
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