Unmistakable grizzly bear tracks North Cascades

Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife would also be interested in knowing. I'd suggest contacting the appropriate wildlife biologist listed on this page:

wdfw.wa.gov/hab/ahb/index.htm

Very cool. It seems like grizzly sightings in Southwest BC have been increasing. They shot one in Squamish last year because it had come into town. Out in Chilliwack/Hope I have heard of occasional sightings in the hills. There was a plan to reintroduce 20-25 grizzlies to Manning Park. I suppose they could have wandered down from there towards your location in the North Cascades (Highway 20?). Unfortunately, our current government lifted the ban on grizzly hunting so their population is again at risk. Even some government employed biologists agree that the hunting of grizzly bears in our province is not sustainable. Fortunately, we get to vote on May 12th. Anyhow,

This grizz was sighted just east of Manning Park in 2002:

www.bearinfo.org/images/NC_Griz_June_2002_Zakora-02.mpg

Here is some info on how to tell the difference between grizz and black bear tracks:

www.bearinfo.org/tracks.htm

Very cool. It seems like grizzly sightings in Southwest BC have been increasing. They shot one in Squamish last year because it had come into town. Out in Chilliwack/Hope I have heard of occasional sightings in the hills. There was a plan to reintroduce 20-25 grizzlies to Manning Park. I suppose they could have wandered down from there towards your location in the North Cascades (Highway 20?).

www.bearinfo.org/tracks.htm

Thanks, Matt C. The toes on these tracks are in my mind unmistakably grizzly according to your link.

Thanks also to all of you who forwarded this information onto wildlife biologist friends.

Gary

Here is the summary of what has happened. Thanks to those of you who forwarded this to friends involved in grizzly research, several wildlife biologists contacted me by PM. The incident has been reported and it was told to me by a biologist who was in charge of the grizzly and wolf reintroduction program that this is the first "credible" sighting of grizzly bears in the North Cascades in the past 13 years! The bear from the size of the tracks is estimated to be about 600lbs (I presume that to be once he has restored himself from winter hibernation). The biologists decided not to try to feret out the tracks because they believe that very poor weather this past weekend probably diminished the quality of the tracks. It is likely that remote cameras will be put up and maintained through the fall.

So this was pretty exciting news all around and I can tell you it made a lot bigger impression on me than a day with some great skiing and some not so great. Besides these tracks and the earlier mentioned grizzly encounter in the Rockies, I've seen two wolverines (not in Washington), four wolves (one in Washington in 1991), a fisher, a cougar and a couple of bobcats. Hopefully, one day I'll see a lynx (I have seen lynx tracks about 15 years ago).
Keep going out there and keep your eyes peeled because you never know what you might be lucky enough to see!

For the sake of clarity for all who may find their way to this post to learn about the bear track observation, it should be noted that there is not a "wolf reintroduction" program in the North Cascades as may have been unintentionally implied in Gary's previous post. 

The wolves that have now been formally documented to have found their way south from B.C. into the North Cascades were not "introduced" as they may have been in other parts of the country.

The State WDFW has been working on a grey wolf management plan for Washington and this remains in draft form pending updated information associated with the Lookout Pack's occupation of habitat and reproduction in the North Cascades.

Thanks for being out there with your eyes open Gary -- this is exciting news!

J.P.