Bears across borders in BC and Washington

Conservation Northwest's is helping recover grizzly bears regionally, by protecting individual bears and critical core and connected habitats and working across borders into British Columbia.

Despite having extensive areas of prime habitat, the North Cascades of Washington and British Columbia are today home to less than two dozen grizzly bears. North Cascades grizzly bears have slow reproductive rates and have yet to recover from decades of persecution and over-hunting.

Grizzly bears in the cross-border Cascades are one of several highly threatened grizzly bear populations in the region that will require the serious commitment of Canadian and US governments and citizens for their recovery.

Ensuring a future for bears

To ensure a future for Cascades grizzly bears, Conservation Northwest:

• Collaborates with partners in the Fraser River basin in BC, including First Nations, government, commercial interests and community groups.
  
• Educates the public to keep their communities clean and free of bear attractants and to report grizzly bear sightings.
  
• Works with government and industry to manage backcountry roads and motorized access to grizzly bear habitat, since grizzly bear deaths are most often associated with roads.
  
• Collaborates with First Nations on strategies and technologies to maintain their cultural and subsistence values. This and the economic self-determination for First Nations are all inextricably bound to vital ecosystems and healthy wildlife populations. 
• Encourages US wildlife agencies and Washington State's Congressional leaders to support recovery for North Cascades grizzly bears.
  

Umbrella species to many more

Grizzly bears are only a part of the story. As so-called umbrella species, grizzly bears are a strong surrogate for the conservation of the dozens of other plants and animals that make our region biologically and culturally diverse and vibrant. Protecting the habitats that allow the bear the freedom to roam and thrive will benefit mule deer, wolverines, elk and mountain goats, and many more wildlife.

Protecting the roadless watersheds that nurture the grizzly bear also helps ensure clean water, solitude, and recreational opportunities for everyone.