Grizzlies Could Make a Comeback in California, New Study Suggests

At the time of the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s, grizzly bears numbered as many as 10,000. In the following years, the iconic carnivores were entirely eradicated, with the last one seen wandering alone in Sequoia National Park in 1924.

Now, a new feasibility study by the California Grizzly Alliance has said grizzlies could be reintroduced to the Golden State, particularly in three regions: in the northwest forest close to the Oregon border, in the southwestern region and in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains, reported The Guardian.

Grizzlies provide a host of ecosystem benefits, including seed dispersal, nutrient cycling and aerating soil through digging.

“My first grizzly sighting came on a long summer’s day in Alaska’s Denali National Park. While making my way through great meadows, I glanced their hulking shapes on the horizon, the distance shrinking these tawny giants to mere caterpillars. And yet, there they were, magnificent and untamed, nature raw and powerful,” wrote conservationist Kris Tompkins in a foreword to the study. “Coming into the presence of an iconic species like a grizzly is an electric bolt to the senses. With one look, the meek dimensions of human existence are laid bare. We are humbled, which is a very good thing… It’s time to think of the other creatures with which we share the Earth, those that have no say in the future but are fundamental to an intact and thriving planet.”