Mass grizzly bear reintroduction in California moves step closer

Grizzly bears have taken one lumbering step closer to roaming California again.California’s State Senate voted 29-9 on party lines last week to approve a roadmap to evaluate whether it is possible to reintroduce the apex predator, which is featured on the state flag.The bill now moves to California’s State Assembly, where it has been read and held at the desk.It can next be assigned to a committee or take another path at lawmakers’ discretion.SB 1305 has faced changes since The California Post reported on it in March.

The bill has considerably softened its language toward bringing grizzly bears back to California after concerns from ranchers that bringing another apex predator into the state could threaten livestock.The bill has shifted its language from painting the grizzly bear reintroduction to California as an inevitable outcome to a possibility.Its title was changed from the California Grizzly Restoration Act to the California Grizzly Recovery Assessment Act.Several parts of the bill have been struck or changed to add protections for potential grizzly bears, including a section protecting livestock owners from bears by allowing them to kill the bears if they are hunting livestock.A critical section of the bill outlining its intent has changed.

The original bill text suggested that the state wished to restore the bear to California.But the amended text clarified that the bill sought just to see if the bear’s reintroduction “is biologically feasible and whether areas of the state exist in which the conditions necessary for long-term coexistence and stewardship can be achieved.”A deadline for the roadmap has been extended from June 30, 2028, to June 30, 2030.

Legislators’ reasoning for bringing back the bear remains in the bill, which is that it holds significance “for many California Native American tribes” and deserves a second chance in California’s ecosystem after hunting drove the bears out of the state.If the roadmap is approved by t...