Bear Essential?: The Past, Present, and Potential Future of Grizzlies in California

This presentation will discuss an ambitious effort to conduct the first major study in more than sixty years on the past, present, and potential future of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in California.Prior to the Gold Rush in... [ view full abstract ]

This presentation will discuss an ambitious effort to conduct the first major study in more than sixty years on the past, present, and potential future of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in California.

Prior to the Gold Rush in 1849, California was home to as many as ten thousand grizzly bears. Grizzlies roamed from the northwest forest to the edge of the Mojave Desert and from the High Sierra to the Los Angeles Basin. Native peoples developed rich mythologies about and complex relationships with grizzlies, and early settlers recorded detailed accounts of their interactions with the region’s famous “chaparral bears.” After statehood, California’s grizzly population plummeted due to hunting and predator eradication campaigns. The species became California’s official mascot, but the last credible sighting of a wild grizzly there occurred in 1924.

In the decades that followed, scholars and storytellers treated the epic saga of grizzlies in California as dead history: a frontier legend and a cautionary tale, but not a relevant issue for contemporary science or conservation. In 2014, however, a non-governmental conservation organization submitted a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list grizzlies as endangered in California and the Southwest. The Service rejected this petition in part due to a lack of current, rigorous science.

The California Grizzly Study Group, founded in 2016 at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is now seeking to fill this gap through an innovative, interdisciplinary project incorporating more than half-a-dozen interrelated studies on the history, geography, ecology, politics, management, ethics, and public understanding of this iconic species. Ours goal are to contribute to a more informed civic discussion and evidence-based decision-making process for possible future recovery efforts, and contribute to state-of-the-art knowledge about broader issues in species reintroduction.