Biden Admin Accelerates Plan to Relocate Grizzlies Into Rural Washington, Locals Not Amused

We are kind of used to bears here in the Great Land. Bears, and other big critters like moose, have always been here, and we are used to living around them. That's relevant at the moment, as the other day a friend of ours who lives back in the hills away from the highway sent us a photo of about a 9-inch wide print of a grizzly that had walked through the snow right next to their garage; yes, our bears are waking up, and they are hungry.

But in the lower 48, most folks don't live around these enormous apex predators. Since their population density is generally higher and there are a lot more livestock around, some folks in northern Washington state are rightfully perturbed at the idea that the Biden administration is accelerating plans to move some of these Volkswagen-sized death machines into their neighborhoods.

In a joint announcement, the National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service published a final environmental impact statement evaluating its options for grizzly bear management in the region. The filing lists the federal government's preferred course of action as the translocation of grizzly bears from other ecosystems with an "experimental population designation."
"Designation of grizzly bears released into the U.S. portion of the [North Cascades Ecosystem] as a [nonessential experimental population] would provide authorized agencies with greater management flexibility should conflict situations arise," the agencies wrote in the filing. "Any management actions would be consistent with the overall goal of establishing and conserving the NEP while promoting social tolerance and human safety."

Previously on RedState: Republicans Pounce on Biden Admin Plans to Release Grizzlies in Rural Washington

The locals aren't amused, and they are pretty outspoken about it.

Still, the proposal was quickly condemned by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), which represents cattle ranchers, and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., who represents local communities in the region.
"The status included in today’s announcement may be the administration’s attempt to placate the state, but we continue to stand with the ranchers and rural families in northwest Washington who do not want this proposal to move forward at all," said NCBA Government Affairs Director Sigrid Johannes. "Dropping new apex predators into rural Americans’ backyards is not something that the federal government should undertake without consensus."

One might note that there already is an apex predator in the Cascades; mountain lions live in the area, and they can occasionally be dangerous to livestock or even humans, although it's rare. But grizzlies are quite a different beast. Mountain lions are shy and retiring creatures. Grizzlies are big—a large male can weigh 5-600 pounds—fast, and genetically programmed to fear nothing in their environment. They can rip the door off your truck to get to your cooler, and they can smell the contents of that cooler from the next time zone. These are formidable animals, and knowing that, one can appreciate the concern of the people living in the northern Cascades.

This isn't a concern that the Biden administration can make go away with a few humorous signs.

Here's the really astounding bit:

"Designation of grizzly bears released into the U.S. portion of the [North Cascades Ecosystem] as a [nonessential experimental population] would provide authorized agencies with greater management flexibility should conflict situations arise," the agencies wrote in the filing. "Any management actions would be consistent with the overall goal of establishing and conserving the NEP while promoting social tolerance and human safety."

Social tolerance? It's not difficult to divine what the Biden administration means by "social tolerance," but this isn't tolerance of an annoying neighbor who has the habit of playing his saxophone outside in the wee hours. This is, as stated above, a huge, fearless apex predator, and it's difficult to be socially tolerant of a 500-pound bear while it's trying to eat your leg.

As is their modus operandi, the Biden administration seems once again to steamroll right over the concerns of citizens to pursue the "environmental" agendas of people who have little or no experience out in the actual environment.