The National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recently announced their intention to pursue an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process to bring back grizzly bears in the North Cascades of Washington.
As you know, Washington ranchers are already impacted by livestock predation caused by wolves and this problem will only be made worse with the inclusion of a second predator. For further information on this issue, click here to read the column/op ed from Congressman Newhouse.
Congressman Newhouse is absolutely right. Grizzly bears will threaten rural communities, and cost our ranchers dearly.
The current comment period runs from November 10 - December 14, 2022. We encourage WCA members to write about how this policy will impact their ranch and operations.
DATES:
All comments must be received or postmarked by December 14, 2022.
ADDRESSES:
Comment submission: To submit comments for consideration in development of the EIS, you may use any one of the following methods:
To provide electronic comments, click here.
U.S. mail:
Office of the Superintendent
810 State Route 20
Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284;
or
Washington Fish and Wildlife Office
500 Desmond Dr. SE
Lacey, WA 98503.
Document availability:
Information regarding the public scoping process for the EIS and virtual public meetings is available for public review online at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/NCEGrizzly;
or
by appointment in the Office of the Superintendent, 810 State Route 20, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284 (360-854-7200, telephone); and in the Washington Fish and Wildlife Office, 500 Desmond Dr. SE, Lacey, WA 98503 (360-753-9440, telephone).
There are two more public meeting opportunities on:
· Thursday, December 1st, 2022 at 12:00 pm PST
· Friday, December 2nd, 2022 at 7:00 pm PST
For links to attend the public meetings, click here.
For full Federal Register information, click here.