Grizzly bears once roamed the rugged landscape of the North Cascades in Washington state but few have been sighted in recent decades. Instead they're seeking input over the next several weeks on what steps they should take to restore grizzly bears to their natural range. In Washington state, the grizzly plan has stoked intense debate as federal officials sought input in 2015 as it developed the draft environmental impact statement released Thursday. The most recent confirmed sighting of a bear was in 1996 in the U.S. portion of the North Cascades ecosystem. The 1997 plan called for an environmental review to evaluate a range of alternatives for recovering the North Cascades grizzly population but no funds were allocated until 2014.

Source: ABC News January 12, 2017 16:02 UTC