The Center for Biological Diversity is going to court in a bid to force grizzly bear recovery in the North Cascades if Washington State/USFWS file

A week after Interior Secretary David Bernhardt tossed aside efforts to draft a recovery plan for grizzly bears in the North Cascades ecosystem, a conservation organization announced it would try to undo Bernhardt's decision.

On July 7 the Interior secretary, during a roundtable discussion in Washington state, said "the people who live and work in north central Washington have made their voices clear that they do not want grizzly bears reintroduced into the North Cascades."

On Wednesday the Center for Biological Diversity initiated a lawsuit to challenge that decision.

“The swift termination of this crucial program to recover grizzly bears in the North Cascades defies science and law,” said Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney at the Center. “If this program isn’t restored, grizzly bears are likely to completely disappear from the Pacific Northwest.”

In the past decade, biologists have documented only four grizzly bears in the region.

For more than two decades, biologists have been working to recover the North Cascades' grizzlies, a threatened species. And while more than a few reports of grizzly sightings in the ecosystem that stretches north to Canada are received by state and federal officials each year, most turn out to be black bears.

Back in 2017, National Park Service staff at North Cascades National Park were evaluating public comment previously made on the recovery proposal, but Interior officials told them to stop the work. But in March 2018 then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told the agency to resume the work.

Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff had been working on a draft recovery plan until last week.

The notice of intent the Center submitted Wednesday was advance warning to the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that it would file a lawsuit alleging that the cancellation of the program violates the Endangered Species Act, which requires federal agencies to conserve listed species. Grizzly bears in the contiguous United States were listed as a threatened species under the Act in 1975.

The North Cascades is one of the largest wild areas in the lower 48 states, encompassing more than 95,000 square miles in north-central Washington centered on North Cascades National Park. It also includes large areas of surrounding national forest. According to scientists, the area contains prime habitat that could support approximately 280 grizzly bears.

“Grizzly bears once thrived in the North Cascades, and we hope this lawsuit pushes the agencies to bring the bears back,” said Zaccardi. “Halting efforts to restore bears to this area ensures the local extinction of grizzlies in Washington.”

The North Cascades represents one of six primary grizzly bear recovery areas identified by the Fish and Wildlife Service. A sustainable population there is necessary for grizzly bear recovery in the contiguous United States.

The Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service have 60 days to respond to today’s notice of intent to sue.