North Cascades Grizzly Plan Reopened Pt 1
I'm Bob Larson. In a rather surprising turn of events last Thursday, the Department of Interior announced it was reopening the public comment period to collect views on the Restoration Plan for Grizzly Bears in the North Cascades.When I asked U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse if he'd heard, after being shelved last August, that the plan had been reopened, it was news to him ...
NEWHOUSE ... "I don't know of any effort on their part or any attention on their part for actually moving forward with the introduction of grizzlies, but I think that this is an opportunity that everybody should take advantage of to make sure that the Department of Interior hears loud and clear how they feel about this."
Newhouse says more public comment is something they've always been lacking ...
NEWHOUSE ... "Well, it was clear as this process was begun several years ago, it was clear to me that the agency had not done as much as it could to get the reaction, the opinions from people in the area as to how they felt about having grizzly bears in North Central Washington."
Newhouse says this is still not a good idea ...
NEWHOUSE ... "I've been clear that this is not something that I support and the Secretary knows full-well my feelings on this issue and I will be definitely following up with him."
The deadline for public comment is NOW October 24th.
Listen tomorrow for more reaction on the renewed Grizzly
plan.
Go to the National Park Service website to provide your comments ...
https://parkplanning.nps.gov/grizzlydeis