The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) is applauding the restart of talks to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades Range.
The U.S. government recently announced that they’re relaunching the Environmental Impact Statement process (EIS).
“It’s been a long time in the making, and a lot of, like, working to align timelines and policies and getting our governments to agree on things and I feel like this is a really historic moment in time for us and I don’t think we’ll be missing this opportunity,” said ONA Natural Resource Manager Cailyn Glasser.
Syilx Nation natural resources chair, Jordan Coble, says the announcement ‘marks an important moment in time for recovery efforts on both sides of the border.’
“Many decades of work, by many committed people have led us to where we are now,” said Coble.
“From the Syilx Nation’s perspective, our partnership with B.C. on this work is a demonstration of implementing DRIPA in its purest form — we are collectively righting a wrong, and returning kiɁlawnaɁ to an ecosystem that depends on their presence.”
According to Glasser, the Trump administration put a halt to the EIS process in 2016, following pushback from residents and ranchers in the area.
The Biden administration, however, has now brought the proposal back.
“Recovery efforts in Canada have been on again and off again for the last 30 or 40 years,” said Glasser.
“The efforts in the States have also been on again and off again. They’ve relaunched the EIS process a number of times and it’s been a bit of a game of cat and mouse.
“We haven’t really been able to line up efforts on both sides of the border.”
The North Cascades is a transboundary ecosystem that spans the Canada and U.S. border., around the Manning Park area.
Now, only a few grizzly bears roam the North Cascades range.
“Only within the last 150 years have ki?lawna? been absent from the North Cascades landscape — a result of persecution and overhunting by settlers,” said ONA Tribal Chairman.
“Much like our people, the tmix w (all living things) are resilient. The ki?lawna?, is a part of who we are, our nation has worked tirelessly to restore salmon, and now we continue the journey to bring ki?lawna? home to the North Cascades.”
Glasser added that the population will not be able to recover on its own.
“The North Cascades population right now is considered critically endangered. There may be up to six bears present in that ecosystem right now, so very few,” said Glasser.
“It’s not a sustainable population, and it’s not a population that will recover on its own. They’re too isolated and there are too few bears for that to happen on its own.”
According to Glasser, steps like this are important as recovery needs to be a collaborative effort between the U.S. and Canada.
“It’s important because grizzly bears don’t recognize international boundaries. So, in order for recovery to be successful on either side of the border, it’s necessary for both to work together,” said Glasser.
“With the announcement of the EIS process launching and at the same time, our efforts are continuing on this side and it’s an incredible opportunity to work as a transboundary team and make sure that that population gets the care it needs across the entire ecosystem.”
The ONA since 2014 has been leading regional grizzly bear restoration efforts on the Canadian side of the border, and Glasser says the work is not over yet.
“Recovery efforts in the North Cascade date right back to the 1990s, early 2000s and tons and tons of big brains have been working on this for a long, long time. A millennium of experts and knowledge keepers and elders and biologists and people who have paved the way for us and the work that we’re doing and they continue to pave the way for us,” said Glasser.
“Recovery can look like habitat enhancement; it can look at it can look like management activities. It can look like augmentation and down the road translocation down the road. We’re hopeful that we can look at translocation in the next year or two.”