| Subject: Sythesis |
Author:
Seth Super
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Date Posted: 16:42:43 05/17/04 Mon
Synthesis
A Canadian plan to introduce grizzly bears into the North Cascades has upset some state lawmakers who fear the creatures will attack people. The plan is to reintroduce predatory wildlife species near northeastern Washington prompted Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient, to introduce legislation in an effort to protect area residents, livestock and orchards. “To rural landowners, recovery of predatory wildlife means invasion of orchards and livestock, and likely personal safety concerns,” said Morton.
The Senate has passed a petition urging British Columbia to drop its reintroduction program at the U.S. border in the North Cascades. They want Canadian officials to make sure the reintroduction program stays many miles away from the border. Senate Joint Memorial 8004 is Morton’s efforts to ease the blow he believes the reintroduction of grizzly bears will have on area residents. Senate Joint Memorial 8004 asks the province of British Columbia to refrain from releasing grizzly bears where their range is likely to extend into Washington State. The Senate's memorial passed out of its House committee, 8-1. House fisheries Chairman Mike Cooper, D-Edmonds, supported the measure. With The low salmon population in the area I know why. Whether the approval of the petition will have any influence on the B.C. augmentation program is unclear.
British Columbia's Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection has been debating its recovery plan for the grizzly for the past few months. A final plan has not been adopted, but officials want to shift six bears over the next five years into the North Cascades north of the Okanogan and Wenatchee national forests from coastal and central B.C. This number of bears has been decreased many times in attempt to get it passed already, but I don’t think the environmentalist get the point that we don’t want the bears in our back yards.
Washington State law prohibits introduction of grizzly bears and requires protection of native grizzly bear population in suitable areas. “Northeast Washington is not a suitable area for the reintroduction of grizzly bears,” said Morton. “There are major questions about sustainability and major concerns over safety.” The Northeastern part of Washington is very dry and could even be considered desert like, it’s not the lush mountain tundra areas that the bears need to survive. Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient, said data from Washington State University professor Charles Robbins shows the Washington state side of the North Cascades does not have enough food to support the bears. Six to eight weeks prior to hibernation, an average adult grizzly bear of 650 pounds consumes a third of its body weight per day to fatten up for the months of hibernation. Morton said it is hard to believe there are 200 squirrels out there for each grizzly to consumer per day. “That is precisely why residents of northeastern Washington are concerned that grizzlies could stray into inhabited areas looking for sustenance,” said Morton.
Morton maintains their quest for food will lead them to grazing livestock and area orchards.
Morton fears the grizzly will attack at random, especially because the area in the North Cascades continues to grow in population. "It's one of the highest-growing areas in the state," Morton said. “I will continue to work with British Columbia and the federal government to protect the residents of northeastern Washington from the impacts that reintroduction of grizzly bears will have on our area.”
The deer population is already suffering from the law that banned hunting cougars with dogs. That measure increased the cougar population drastically and when the number or predators goes up the number of prey will always go down. The grizzlies would further deplete the deer population.
The orchards are also already in trouble. After the apple market crashed a few years ago a lot of farmers had to tear out there crops and replant other crops. Many simply gave up on the business. The bears would see the orchards as an easy meal and as a result be a disaster to the farmer’s source of income. Poverty in these northern counties is a serious problem and as I see it we need to avoid all the extra problems we can. Grizzly bears would not do any good for this area.
The sources I have found have all but one been against this reintroduction and hopefully you see why in this paper. In areas like yellow stone the bears are fenced in and protected where as in the north cascades they would be free to roam. With the safety of the people in the area as well as that of the livestock and even the bears their selves in mind I would not support the Canadian plan.
Work from:
Friederich, Steven. (2003). Keep Canadian grizzly bears north of border, lawmakers say
Seattle Post. retrieved 5-17-04, from http://www.com.washington.edu/journalism/olympia/friederich/friederich_grizzly.html
Unknown. (2003). Morton says predatory wildlife reintroduction frightening for northeastern Washington residents. SRC Media Center/Breaking News. Retrieved 5-17-04 from
http://www.src.wa.gov/News2003/MortonPR022603.htm
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