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Grizzly bear photographed near the East gate of Manning Park, British Columbia in 2015. The key morphological traits required for positive identification (long front claws, prominent shoulder hump, and a dished face) are clearly displayed. Photo by John Ashley-Pryce.
Source publication
The North Cascades ecosystem of north-central Washington State (US) and southern British Columbia, Canada has been identified as one of six recovery zones for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) that were at one time distributed across a nearly continuous range of western North America. The current low number of grizzly bears along with an apparent scarci...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... for this analysis are derived from the park complex's wildlife observations database, two previously published reports of grizzly bear accounts in the North Cascades (Sullivan 1983 andAlmack et al. 1993), data from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC), and various other written accounts (e.g. Beckey 2003), compilations of sightings collected from local newspapers, and ethnological descriptions. After all data were compiled, we identified and deleted duplicate observations by cross-checking dates, locations, and source names. If all observation parameters (date, location, observer name, observation type) between multiple observations matched, we deemed it as the same observation. Historical and recent observations compiled by Bjorklund (1980) were later integrated and confirmed by Sullivan (1983); therefore, we directly cite the latter in this report. Sullivan 1983 andAlmack et al. 1993 used a class scale (1 to 4) to rate the reliability of observations according to methods approved by the North Cascades Grizzly Bear Working Group and the IGBC (Almack 1986(Almack , 1990). Class 1 observations were confirmed as a positive identification by a biologist using a photograph or video, track, hair, carcass, dig, or food cache. Class 2 observations were characterized as "high reliability" if two or more of the following defining characteristics were confirmed: shoulder hump, concave facial profile (i.e. "dished face"), long front claws ( Figure 2), and scat if it was associated with a sighting or tracks. Additional information regarding their reliability rating system is available in the methods and results sections of these two reports. We chose to include Class 1 and 2 observations but not Class 3 (low reliability) and 4 (not a grizzly bear) in this synthesis report. ...
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Citations
... Most visitors to the Park arrive on developed roads. The impacts to wildlife from developed roadways include potential disruption of wildlife travel routes (Forman andAlexander 1998, Baker andLeberg 2018), habituation and/or toxicity from road deicers and automobile byproducts (Siegel 2007, Beckmann et al. 2010, impacts to reproduction from noise (Shannon et al. 2016), and death from vehicle strike (Garriga et al. 2012 (Rine et al. 2018). This ultimately resulted in extirpation of some species, like fisher and grizzly bear, and other species remain very rare. ...
The North Cascades Ecosystem is one of the largest and most intact wilderness areas in the contiguous United States. It spans 34,965 km2 across the U.S.-Canada border between central Washington State and southern British Columbia and is bisected north to south by the Cascade Mountain range. The North Cascades National Park Service Complex (hereafter, the Park) lies in the heart of the ecosystem and is comprised of North Cascades National Park (2,044 km2), Ross Lake National Recreation Area (NRA) (473 km2), and Lake Chelan NRA (251 km2). This report focuses on terrestrial wildlife species in the Park that are federally listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), state-listed under Washington Administrative Code, and/or designated by NPS as Management Priority species. We provide a detailed synthesis of information around NPS records from 1995–2020 for nine bird and nine mammal species and one mammal Order (Chiroptera [bats]), as well as a suite of invertebrate pollinators in the Park where data are available. Information for each species includes life history information, occurrence in the Park, protective status, trends when known, a summary of known threats, and a summary of conservation and research needs. We also provide brief summaries for an additional five bird and two mammal species, and one taxa group (woodpeckers) where data are more limited.
... Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) were once present across much of western North America, but direct killing and extensive habitat loss over the last century extirpated them from 98% of their historic range (USFWS 1993(USFWS , 1997Servheen 1999;Rine et al. 2018). The species was provided protection under the Endangered Species Act by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1975, and a Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan was established in 1982and revised in 1993(USFWS 1993. ...
... It spans the US-Canada border between central Washington State and southern British Columbia, and is bisected north to south by the rugged Cascade Mountain range. Archeological evidence, traditional knowledge from tribes and First Nations, and historic trapping records indicate that grizzly bears once occurred across this ecosystem (Rine et al. 2018). The very few grizzly bear observations confirmed in recent decades have led managers to conclude that the species may persist at extremely low numbers but is functionally extirpated (USNPS/USFWS 2017). ...
... In other parts of their range, grizzlies thrive without use of whitebark pine and the lack of this resource has not been linked to bear-human conflict (Mace and Jonkel 1986, Hamer and Herrero 1987a, McLellan and Hovey 1995. North Cascades observations of grizzly bears in modern times potentially associated them with open habitat and/or whitebark pine distribution (Rine et al. 2018), but it is unknown if translocated grizzly bears would select for whitebark pine as a primary food source in the North Cascades, especially if bears originate from habitats where whitebark pine is not currently utilized as a primary food source. ...
The North Cascades Ecosystem of north-central Washington State and southern British Columbia, Canada, is one of six designated recovery zones for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the conterminous United States. The National Park Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service evaluated a range of alternatives for restoring grizzly bears in the Cascades, and carrying capacity models estimated the ecosystem could support approximately 250–300 bears under current habitat conditions. As climate change shapes the North Cascade Ecosystem, there is considerable uncertainty as to how grizzly bear habitat may change through time. Projected increases in growing season length, winter and spring water surplus, summer water deficit, wildfire, and decreases in snow pack will likely to lead to substantial vegetation changes by the end of the century. These changes are in turn likely to affect grizzly bear foraging and denning behaviors, and thus could influence their population dynamics through time. The North Cascades Ecosystem supports many of the primary food sources used by grizzly bears in other populations, including graminoids, starchy tubers like Hedysarum spp., montane forbs like glacier lilies, forest plants like horsetails and cow parsnip, clovers, and a wide variety of berry-producing plants (Vaccinium spp. and others), as well as ants, ungulates, and carrion. Because grizzly bears are habitat generalists, they are projected to be relatively insensitive to climate change effects. More grizzly bear food resources in the North Cascades are expected to increase in abundance over time than those projected to become more scarce. For example, some important bear food sources, like Vaccinium spp., are projected to significantly increase in abundance as meadows become shrubbier and fire opens forests over the coming decades. Many grizzly bear food sources are projected to migrate up in elevation, potentially creating higher quality habitat farther from low elevation roads and human settlements where human-bear conflict is more likely. Disease and pest outbreaks such as blister rust disease in whitebark pine, beetle infestations of conifer forests, and salmon poisoning disease introduce a suite of uncertainties for the future of specific potential grizzly bear foods. Changes in winter snowpack may delay denning, exposing grizzly bears to negative human interactions for a longer period of time each year, underscoring the importance of human sanitation practices and education. The complex relationship between changes in climate, natural processes, and natural and anthropogenic features will expose grizzly bears to a range of changing resource conditions, but the species low sensitivity to changing climate and high adaptive capacity portends positive long term outcomes if a successful founding population can be re-established. This report aims to synthesize the scientific literature and develop the conceptual basis for understanding potential climate impacts on grizzly bear habitat quality in the North Cascades Ecosystem. It is expected that the outcome of this effort will be used to inform modeling efforts for estimating grizzly bear carrying capacity under future climate change scenarios.
