The mighty grizzly bear ruled California’s valleys, forests and coasts with fierce claws and jaws until people shot the last ones nearly a century ago. Now an environmental group is asking the state to consider bringing it back.
In a proposal fanning strong emotions about humans’ uneasy relationship with big predators they are trying to save, the Center for Biological Diversity is trying to drum up support for the state to study reintroducing grizzly bears to remote areas such as the Sierra.
Not surprisingly, some critics — including the state’s wildlife agency — suggest it would be impractical and unsafe to reintroduce the 800-pound grizzly, also known as the brown bear, to the most populated state in the nation.
“Reintroducing grizzly bears to California would be idiotic,” said Pete Margiotta, a Walnut Creek resident and longtime hunter. “Somebody is going to get killed.”
But the center, a frequent plaintiff in legal disputes over endangered species, says the grizzly bear’s recovery from near extinction in the lower 48 states would be more secure if the species expanded its range beyond select areas in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington.
California still has many remote and sparsely populated areas that might be suitable for grizzlies, the center says.
“The grizzly bear is an icon in California history. It’s on our state flag, but where is the grizzly bear?” said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate for the national group with an office in Oakland. “There are serious issues to be addressed with reintroduction, but this idea should not be dismissed out of hand because of emotion.”
While the last grizzly in the California wild was shot in the early 1920s, there are some 1,400 to 1,700 of them in the lower 48 states, a small fraction of the 50,000 believed to roam between the Pacific Ocean and Great Plains in the early 1800s.
The Center for Biological Diversity has collected some 20,000 signatures on an online petition urging the state Fish and Game Commission to consider studying the feasibility of reintroducing the grizzly, which is listed a federal threatened species.
The group also is doing social media ads for its campaign in preparation for presenting a formal petition to the commission in a few months.
Environmentalists call the messages part of a broader national campaign of “rewilding” areas to restore large carnivores such as bears, wolves, badgers and otters and protecting large connected habitats for them.
Large predators and large habitats, rewilding advocates say, are essential to keeping ecosystems healthy.
But skeptics of reintroducing grizzlies into California say there are a host of practical problems with reintroducing a bear that weighs up to 800 pounds, roughly double the size of existing black bears in California.
While grizzly attacks on people are rare in North America, the bear’s immense size and strength can make for fatal results when people get in the way. In grizzly-occupied Yellowstone National Park, bears have killed eight people over 145 years, compared with the six deaths from fallen trees, five deaths due to lightning and six deaths from avalanches. And their big appetites spur grizzlies to travel long distances in search of food, biologists say.
Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said her agency is concerned that grizzlies would wander from remote areas into less remote ones near people and livestock.
While the Center for Biological Diversity has suggested considering remote Sierra areas for grizzly bear territory, the Sierra has more limited food sources and a shorter growing season than coastal, marsh or valley areas where grizzly bears used to roam, she said. Salmon and other wildlife that grizzly bears feasted on 150 to 200 years ago are not as abundant as they used to be, she said.
“We already have many problems with conflicts with wildlife,” she said. “I cannot foresee us taking on the burden and extra cost of something like this.”
Wildlife managers worry whether people could adapt to living or traveling near grizzlies — learning to carry bear repellent, not making noise to surprise bears, not leaving out food sources, and generally staying clear of bears, especially protective mothers with cubs.
“One important issue is whether people who live in their habitat would value them enough to tolerate them, and tolerating them could mean changing how you live,” said Peter Alagona, a UC Santa Barbara associate professor of history, geography and environmental studies.
Alagona is communicating with other wildlife and environmental experts about grizzly bears in a forum he expects will lead to a symposium on the history of the grizzly bear in California and the potential benefits and problems of reintroduction.
Alagona said he has formed no opinion on reintroducing grizzles, but he favors a study on the idea.
“We don’t have enough information,” Alagona said, noting that the last paper on grizzly bears in California was done in 1955.
Alagona said Europe has far more brown bears in less territory than the lower 48 states in the United States.
The California Cattlemen’s Association says it doesn’t need a study to conclude that bringing back grizzlies would be bad for ranchers and rural residents.
“The call for this study is a publicity stunt,” said Kirk Wilbur, manager of government affairs for the association.
Merle McIntosh, a San Francisco resident who enjoys visiting the two grizzlies at the San Francisco Zoo, said he sees no problem with a study on grizzly reintroduction.
“Don’t you do studies so you can make informed decisions?” McIntosh said. “If we’re trying to save the grizzlies, then why don’t you study it?”
The grizzlies at the San Francisco Zoo were orphaned as cubs in Montana and brought to the zoo, which was created in the memory of a grizzly bear.
In 1889, newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst hired trappers to capture a grizzly bear in the California wild and haul it to San Francisco for display to remind the public of the majestic and vast disappearing species.
The bear, named Monarch, led a lonely life at Golden Gate Park. But his plight inspired others to establish the San Francisco Zoo after his death to provide more expansive homes for larger animals like the grizzly.
