National Geographic: Return of the Grizzly
The return of grizzly bears to the North Cascades is once again on the map, and my colleagues and I are eagerly anticipating the release of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement as soon as June or July. This is the critical next step in the grizzly bear recovery process. Last week, I was quoted in National Geographic in my capacity as a carnivore conservation specialist with Woodland Park Zoo, and as one of numerous field biologists who previously conducted surveys for grizzlies—to no avail. Here is my closing quote:
Just last month, MacKay, while working at Woodland Park Zoo, saw a woman and a baby watching two rescued bear cubs, Juniper and Fern, one of which was a grizzly from Montana, splashing in water and wrestling like kids. MacKay heard the mother say, “We’ve waited our whole life for this moment.”
“For many of us, the same can be said for grizzly bear recovery in the North Cascades,” MacKay tells me. “And their survival is largely going to be linked to our ability to tolerate them.”
If you’d like to read some of my own writings about grizzly bears, here are three links that might be of interest:
Op-ed, Seattle Times (2022)
“Homecoming,” Wild Hope (2018)
Please continue to follow my blog for updates about how you can help bring grizzlies back to the North Cascades!