Zinke halts Cascades grizzly bear recovery -- British Columbia protects its bears

Grizzly bear tracks. Grizzly bear tracks. Photo: Dave Shreffler, Special To The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Photo: Dave Shreffler, Special To The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Zinke halts Cascades grizzly bear recovery -- British Columbia protects its bears 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

The grizzly bear, "ursus horribilis," is receiving radically different treatment these days on either side of the U.S.-Canada border.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has ordered a halt to grizzly bear recovery in the North Cascades Ecosystem, where grizzlies are rarely seen and considered America's most endangered population.

Almost simultaneously, the British Columbia government announced a total ban on hunting grizzlies in the province, to take effect immediately. Grizzly hunting is "no longer socially acceptable" to the province's population, said B.C. forests minister Doug Donaldson.

The province in August announced that it would end trophy hunting of grizzly bears and put the Great Bear Rainforest on the west coast off limits to grizzly hunting.

The North Cascades National Park, which reaches to the Canadian border, has been preparing an environmental impact statement on recovery for an area stretching beyond the park's boundaries., As NCNP Superintendent Karen Taylor Goodrich explained to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee:

"We were in the process of evaluating public comment. We were in year three of the process and all the public has been done."

The Park Service had received 127,000 public comments. It has been studying three alternatives designed to restore a population of about 200 bears. The order from Zinke's office also halts discussions with Canadian officials.

Secretary Zinke is a champion and promoter of sport hunting, which in part tipped a selection influenced by Donald Trump, Jr.

Earlier this year he announced an end to Endangered Species Act protection of grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, citing recovery in the 40 years since the bears were listed. The action means states assume management, and clears the way for a hunt outside national park boundaries.

A similar de-listing of the Northern Continental Divide grizzly population, covering Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall and Great Bear Wilderness Areas.

British Columbia is going in the opposite direction. deciding that the bears are to look at and not to shoot. The only exceptions -- bears taken by Aboriginal First Nations for cultural or ceremonial purposes.

"We want to promote the healthy grizzly bear viewing economy in British Columbia and give everyone the tremendous opportunities to see those incredible animals in their natural habitat," said B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman.

The "viewing economy" includes the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary, a provincial park north of Prince Rupert, and the famous grizzly population of Knight Inlet, a fjord that goes keep into the Coast Range.

(Prince Phillip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was flown in to dedicate the Khutzeymateen sanctuary, an estuary with a big population of grizzlies gorging on salmon.)

It was time to end the "barbaric, bloody sport hunt," in the words of Joy Foy, national campaign director for the Wilderness Society, an environmental group that has campaign years for a grizzly hunting ban.

British Columbia has an estimated 15,000 grizzlies. But the population of bears in southwest B.C. is endangered. As well, the previous provincial government severely short changed game management, so population estimates are not precise..