The California Grizzly

There have been many ideas for returning grizzly bears to California. Most of these ideas, such as the Center for Biological Diversity's legal petition in June 2014, focus on the Sierra Nevada. That is understandable, because that is where the most famous and scenic wilderness is, and that is where the last California Grizzly was seen only 90 years ago. Only 90 years ago! But it misses other opportunities and skips a logical selection process that this thoughtful article touches on (see also Wikipedia for other references). In fact, many areas of the state have less people now than there were 90 years ago. These areas are worth considering without putting the Sierra blinders on.


And then there is the opposite strategy for reintroduction locations, such as the Santa Ana Mountains, which might not be big enough for a sustainable reintroduced population... but it would sure get the attention of the neighbors, and not just because mountain lions would no longer be the only ones eating backyard pets. Putting grizzlies right in the middle of the most populous megalopolis isn't necessarily a good idea, even if it might help reduce the Republican population. And I'm not just having a knee jerk reaction like the people that don't want to consider returning grizzlies to California at all--I mean, have you been to Orange County? But if you look just to the north...

The LA Times says that the lush estuaries and coastal environments where the best California Grizzly habitat was "are now dense with Californians." Not so fast. Below are the reprinted pages (in screenshots) of my former Website, last edited about 10 years ago. Pay particular attention to California Grizzly Bear Recovery Area 3: 2.4 million acres of mostly public land, including a lot of wilderness, a National Monument, with about 1 person per square mile living in the core area.

 

 

There you go. I hope you enjoy the resurrection of long-dead things: an animal from 90 years ago and a piece of a Website with my ideas from 10 years ago. And maybe, someday in the future, the schoolkids in Cuyama won't have only endangered California Condors eating their lunch scraps, but California Grizzlies too. We'll just have to make sure they eat the lunch scraps and not the kids. Which is totally doable. We are a capable people.