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Author Topic: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery  (Read 7950 times)

Offline bigtex

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Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« on: March 23, 2018, 08:50:34 PM »
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke throws support behind grizzly bear recovery in North Cascades
By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times environment reporter

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Skagit County — The interior secretary environmentalists have loved to hate stunned wildlife advocates and conservationists at a morning news conference here Friday, in which Ryan Zinke threw his support behind grizzly bear recovery in the North Cascades ecosystem.

“The grizzly bear is part of the environment, as it once was here. It’s part of a healthy environment,” he said, effectively reigniting an Obama-era grizzly recovery study that was halted early during the Trump administration.

Cattlemen were incensed, stating they have already faced too much carnage from the return of the wolf to Washington. But Zinke — reviled among public-lands advocates and conservationists in Washington for everything from backing oil drilling off the coast to hiking national park fees — said he is convinced that park and wildlife professionals can “get it right,” and deliver an environmental-impact statement and record of decision by the end of the year under which the federal government will return the grizzly bear to its primordial home in the North Cascades.

Zinke said the process would take the concerns of public safety and the worries of cattlemen into account with a decision that would manage the numbers of grizzly bears returning to their mountain redoubt, a sprawling wilderness where the bear is at risk of local extinction

He spoke at the administrative headquarters of North Cascades National Park with a stuffed grizzly behind him. Speaking before a small group of media and wildlife and parks activists, Zinke took only one question before departing.

But in his brief remarks, Zinke left no doubt in his support for what he called “the great bear.”

“I grew up on the flanks of Glacier National Park,” Zinke said. “And I have dealt with grizzly bears all my life … I’m in support of the great bear, and in support of doing this right. This is not reintroduction of a rabbit.”

Doing it wrong can adversely affect visitors hiking the park and other users, “but I am confident we can reintroduce the grizzly bear back to this ecosystem.

“I have always loved grizzlies.”

Cattlemen hit back.

“We are extremely disappointed with the Department of the Interior’s stated support for introducing grizzly bears to the North Cascades of Washington,” Ethan Lane, Executive Director of Federal Lands for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said in a prepared statement. “For more than a year we have heard the secretary talk about being a better neighbor, but unfortunately actions speak louder than words. Reintroducing as many as 200 man-eating predators into an area already reeling from exploding gray-wolf populations is anything but neighborly.

“This decision won’t just impact ranchers — it’s a blow for the entire North Cascades ecosystem, the safety of locals and visitors, and the local economy, too. In fact, the only beneficiaries of an action like this will be the radical environmental activists that support this type of ill-advised ecosystem tinkering.”

Zinke said there would be a learning curve to accommodate the bear, “as people learn what they are supposed to do and not to do.”

But it is time, Zinke said, for land managers and public-lands advocates to look ahead 100 years, and connect wildlife corridors and landscapes. And yes, bring back the great bear.

“I am confident we have the skill to have grizzlies in the ecosystem in a way that managers don’t have unintended consequences,” he said.

Cattlemen and all concerned with public safety will certainly have their say in the process, Zinke said. “But this is best for the environment, and the local community.”

With that, he walked from the podium, leaving a room full of stunned wildlife advocates, momentarily speechless.

“I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, but there isn’t any,” said Joe Scott, a grizzly bear specialist with the nonprofit Conservation Northwest, which has long supported the bear’s recovery in the North Cascades.

“Let me catch my breath,” said Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest. “Nixon went to China. Zinke is going to bring the grizzly bear back to the North Cascades.

“We are delighted.”

Rob Smith, regional director of the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association office in Seattle, said it is time now to make sure the decision that emerges from the environmental-impact statement process reflects the wholehearted commitment to restoration of the bear to its home.

“This is a green light, for all the work that has been done so far, and it is what we hoped an interior secretary would say about this program,” Smith said. “It’s a ringing endorsement, but at the end of the year, it all depends on the final decision how successful this will be.

“All the details are yet to work out. But the grizzly bear has always belonged in the North Cascades, and it will be here again.”

During the news conference a small group of protesters demonstrated outside, carrying signs such as one reading “At least the war on the environment is going well!” They all burst into cheers when they heard the news of Zinke’s announcement.

The National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other cooperating agencies have already developed a draft environmental-impact statement and conducted numerous public meetings on recovery of Ursus arctos horribilis, the grizzly bear, in the North Cascades.

The grizzly recovery study was originally announced during the Obama administration in August 2014 as a three-year process. In mid-2017 Interior officials, without clear explanation, halted progress on the recovery efforts. With his remarks Friday, Zinke has kicked the process back into gear.

Over 126,000 comments and correspondence were received on the alternatives already studied.

The comments will be analyzed and addressed to be included in the final environmental-impact statement, which is tentatively scheduled for release in late summer.

Zinke previously served in the Montana state Senate and as a U.S. representative from Montana. A former Navy SEAL, this was his first official visit to Washington state since his appointment to lead the Interior Department by President Donald Trump.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/interior-secretary-ryan-zinke-throws-support-behind-grizzly-bear-recovery-in-north-cascades/

Offline Special T

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2018, 08:53:30 PM »
WTF....

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Offline RB

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2018, 09:10:15 PM »
Horsepucky!

When the first REI granola cruncher gets eaten it will be interesting to see what happens and how many will still think it was a great idea.  :twocents:
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Offline wolfbait

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2018, 09:27:49 PM »
Horsepucky!

When the first REI granola cruncher gets eaten it will be interesting to see what happens and how many will still think it was a great idea.  :twocents:


Strange thing, many of the geenies that were for the wolves are defiantly not for the grizzly bears. How much land will be locked up for grizzly bear recovery?

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2018, 09:33:53 PM »
Horsepucky!

When the first REI granola cruncher gets eaten it will be interesting to see what happens and how many will still think it was a great idea.  :twocents:


Strange thing, many of the geenies that were for the wolves are defiantly not for the grizzly bears. How much land will be locked up for grizzly bear recovery?


Well with the roads that have been washed out and not repaired it will easier to keep people out. And yes it will be a lot of area that will be harder to get to, or just completely blocked trails and all!  :twocents:
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Offline Special T

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2018, 06:15:27 AM »
Horsepucky!

When the first REI granola cruncher gets eaten it will be interesting to see what happens and how many will still think it was a great idea.  :twocents:


Strange thing, many of the geenies that were for the wolves are defiantly not for the grizzly bears. How much land will be locked up for grizzly bear recovery?
I noted this also, When I went to the reintroduction meeting at the Skagit county commissioners.

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Offline Cougartail

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2018, 09:20:57 AM »
Horsepucky!

When the first REI granola cruncher gets eaten it will be interesting to see what happens and how many will still think it was a great idea.  :twocents:

You must have missed the KING 5 report that interviewed the Seattle City Council member who was mauled by a black bear.. He forgave the bear for disfiguring his face. "It wasn't his fault". I tend to agree with him on that point. He should have been carrying a revolver or spray at a minimum.
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Offline Boss .300 winmag

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2018, 09:40:23 AM »
Trump needs to get him back on a leash.  :yike:
"Just because I like granola, and I have stretched my arms around a few trees, doesn't mean I'm a tree hugger!
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Offline Jpmiller

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2018, 10:18:05 AM »
Horsepucky!

When the first REI granola cruncher gets eaten it will be interesting to see what happens and how many will still think it was a great idea.  :twocents:

You must have missed the KING 5 report that interviewed the Seattle City Council member who was mauled by a black bear.. He forgave the bear for disfiguring his face. "It wasn't his fault". I tend to agree with him on that point. He should have been carrying a revolver or spray at a minimum.

honestly it's going to be one of us getting mauled by a grizzly. I'm glad the ones already there are around but I don't want anymore.

Offline jackelope

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #9 on: March 24, 2018, 10:30:00 AM »
There's been a fair amount of support for Zinke on the forum in the past. Curious to see where those who were supporting him are at on this one.
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Offline wolfbait

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2018, 11:18:56 AM »
There's been a fair amount of support for Zinke on the forum in the past. Curious to see where those who were supporting him are at on this one.


I don't think grizzly's are going to make any difference in WA, the USFWS, WDFW, and the fake environmentalists are ruining the hunting with their fake endangered wolves. Grizz is going to have to be a full time granola cruncher, as the uncontrolled predators, wolves cougars and b. bears eat off any meat they might have feasted on.

The dems are tuning WA into a waste land.

Offline 3dvapor

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2018, 11:39:08 AM »
I just wish there was a group to join similar to NRA that would fight for our hunting and fishing rights in this state.  I'm tired of them eroding away piece by piece.

Offline cbond3318

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #12 on: March 24, 2018, 11:45:55 AM »
I don’t think even with reintroduction there will be much of a sustained population of Grizz in the North Cascades. If food source and habitat allowed, the few that have been there for ages would have propagated on their own by now.

IMO attacks on humans is not a valid argument.. You are far, far more likely to get mauled by your windshield in an accident on the way to the trailhead.

I am for reintroduction.
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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #13 on: March 24, 2018, 11:48:17 AM »
A group in Wa. for Wa. Run by Washington hunting / fishing citizens.Like peta epa and the anti gun lobbies of this state.
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Offline jackelope

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Re: Zinke Fully Supports North Cascades Grizzly Recovery
« Reply #14 on: March 24, 2018, 11:49:16 AM »
I just wish there was a group to join similar to NRA that would fight for our hunting and fishing rights in this state.  I'm tired of them eroding away piece by piece.

A group in Wa. for Wa. Run by Washington hunting / fishing citizens.

There is.

http://w4wc.org/index.html

@Bushcraft  Not sure if you're involved in w4wc. I can't tag Joe for whatever dang reason.

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