A conservation group is asking state officials to study reintroducing the grizzly bear to the Sierra Nevadas.

The Center for Biological Diversity, based in Oakland, is collecting signatures on a petition that asks the California Fish and Game Commission to conduct a feasibility study on grizzly reintroduction. Scientists with the center identified about 8,000 square miles that could be appropriate for grizzlies, mainly in the state’s largest mountain range.

For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that the Center for Biological Diversity had filed a petition with the California Fish and Game Commission to conduct a feasibility study on grizzly reintroduction. The group is gathering signatures but has not yet filed the petition.

So far, about 12,000 people have signed the petition.

California officials have said it would be difficult to reintroduce grizzlies, which once roamed the the state but disappeared from California in the early 1900s.


“Before you dismiss it, let’s do a feasibility study,” said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate with the center.

The group filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to expand its grizzly recovery plan in 2014 to include California’s biggest mountain range, but that request was denied.

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