California’s grizzly bears will remain confined to zoo enclosures and the state flag for the foreseeable future, after state lawmakers quietly shelved a bill that would have explored bringing the animals back to the wild.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee on Thursday halted Senate Bill 1305, authored by Sen. Laura Richardson, a Democrat from Inglewood. The proposal would have directed the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to study whether reintroducing grizzly bears to the state was realistic — and, if so, what steps and safeguards would be needed to make it happen.
True to the appropriations committee’s usual practice, there was no floor debate or public comment before the bill was set aside. Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat who chairs the committee, simply announced that the measure would not move forward.
Speaking with reporters afterward, Wicks said the state has more pressing work to do before even considering the return of a large predator to California landscapes. She cited the state’s rocky experience with reintroducing gray wolves, which has led to livestock losses and friction with ranchers in rural areas.
“The state needs to really invest in how we are actually addressing and dealing with those conflicts,” Wicks said, suggesting that unresolved tensions over wolves make the timing wrong for a similar conversation about grizzlies.
Grizzly bears were once a defining feature of California’s wilderness, with population estimates suggesting as many as 10,000 roamed the state before the Gold Rush drew waves of settlers west. Their presence was so deeply woven into California identity that early settlers named their short-lived breakaway nation the Bear Flag Republic — a legacy still visible today in the grizzly emblazoned on the state flag.
That population didn’t survive contact with California’s rapid settlement. Hunting and habitat destruction wiped out the grizzly population by the 1920s, leaving the smaller black bear as the only bear species native to the state that still exists in the wild today.
SB 1305 had drawn support from two Native American tribes acting as co-sponsors, along with a coalition of environmental and animal welfare organizations. Supporters framed the bill as a chance to address a historical ecological loss and help restore balance to California habitats that once depended on large predators.
But the proposal ran into strong opposition from ranching groups, hunting organizations and residents of rural communities, who argued that California’s dense population and existing wildlife conflicts make it an unsuitable place for another apex predator. They pointed to ongoing problems with mountain lions, black bears and wolves already encroaching on livestock and, at times, residential areas, saying rural communities are already stretched thin managing those interactions.
Notably, the bill didn’t include any funding to actually carry out the proposed study — it simply left the door open for a future legislative session, or an outside organization, to pursue the research if they chose.
Yue Stella Yu contributed reporting.
Original source: CalMatters
