Grizzly Bears: Guardians of the Wilderness (Online)

This event is hosted by the North Cascades Institute

Cost: $10

Grizzly bears, one of North America’s most iconic wildlife species, once roamed across half the continent. Today, their range and numbers are much diminished. They are gone from 25 percent of their former territory in Canada and 94 percent in the Lower 48 states. And they are no longer found at all in the southern part of their original range, which once extended all the way to central Mexico.

In 1975, grizzly bears in the Lower 48 states were listed under the newly minted U.S. Endangered Species Act. The following decades saw increased protections implemented in most other jurisdictions. Yet despite making slow but steady gains in some places, grizzlies continue to lose ground in others. Their uneven recovery leaves wildlife managers and communities asking questions like: Why is it so hard for grizzlies to survive in the modern world? And what do we lose when they disappear from the landscape?

Frances Backhouse is a Vancouver Island-based journalist and author who writes about nature and human history, often exploring their intersections in a conservation context. For this unique online program, she will discuss the challenges grizzly bears face, their vital contributions to ecosystem health and how they can serve as guardians of the wilderness.

And we’re excited to welcome Joe Scott from Conservation Northwest to the conversation to provide us with a timely update on the on-again, off-again Grizzly Bear Reintroduction efforts in the North Cascades. Joe leads Conservation Northwest’s trans-boundary grizzly bear recovery and habitat connectivity efforts in the North Cascades and southwestern BC, working collaboratively with several First Nations, research biologists, governments and other conservation organizations.

Audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions of both speakers during the final segment of the program.

If you can’t make this specific date or time, you can still register and we will send you a link to view the class on your own time! All registrants will have access to the class recording for a limited time after the program.

For more information or to register click here.