The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) is a California keystone species known for its powerful influence on ecosystem structure and function. Through their ecological interactions, grizzly bears promote biodiversity and ecosystem heterogeneity by modifying vegetation composition and structure, regulating trophic dynamics, accelerating geomorphic processes, enriching soils with marine and terrestrial nutrients, dispersing seeds, and initiating secondary ecological processes. Prior to their extirpation in the 20th century, grizzly bears inhabited the majority of California’s ecoregions, except the hottest and most arid portions of the state. Contemporary conservation science recognizes the integral role of grizzly bears in maintaining healthy, functioning ecosystems across their range. Their removal from California ecosystems contributed to cascading ecological effects that altered landscape structure, shifted species composition, and contributed to an overall loss of biodiversity in the state.

(b)California grizzly bears coexisted with the ancestors of contemporary California Native American tribes for thousands of years, forming longstanding ecological and cultural relationships. Though extirpated from California more than a century ago, the grizzly bear holds enduring cultural, religious, spiritual, and ceremonial significance for many California Native American tribes. Within the indigenous knowledge systems of California Native American tribes, the grizzly bear is recognized as a vital and honored relative, and its presence is reflected in the oral histories, cosmologies, teachings, traditional medicine, place names, governance structures, and traditional lifeways.

(c)Following the Gold Rush, widespread killing of grizzly bears by settlers, miners, ranchers, and government agents led to the complete extirpation of the species from California by 1924. This deliberate extermination represents the most significant loss of a native species in the state’s history and continues to have lasting adverse impacts by eliminating key ecological functions, reducing ecosystem resilience, and impacting California Native American tribes’ abilities to sustain cultural relationships, uphold traditional practices, and maintain reciprocal stewardship of the land.

(d)California has since become a global leader in biodiversity science and conservation, recovering iconic native species such as the California condor, tule elk, humpback whale, southern sea otter, northern elephant seal, gray wolf, and the North American beaver from near or complete extirpation. The recovery and restoration of extirpated native species is consistent with the state’s and state agencies’ public trust and statutory obligations to conserve, protect, and restore California’s endangered, threatened, and sensitive species. These species hold inherent, ecological, cultural, and social value.

(e)California grizzlies, Ursus arctos californicus, were long believed to represent an extinct subspecies and their presumed extinction by 1924 precluded consideration of reintroduction as a wildlife management option. However, recent genomic research has established they were not a distinct subspecies, but part of the broader North American grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population, which is currently distributed across Montana, Wyoming, and much of western Canada. This genetic continuity provides a scientifically supported source population from which potential restoration efforts may draw.

(f)The reintroduction of the grizzly bear to California, as a means of restoring its historical ecological functions, is consistent with the objectives of the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3), the State Wildlife Action Plan, and the state’s biodiversity and climate resilience strategies, including the 30x30 goal established in Executive Order No. N-82-20. As a vital relative to many California Native American tribes, the emblem on the California State Flag, and the official state animal of California, the grizzly bear holds enduring cultural, historical, ecological, and symbolic significance. Reintroduction aligns with the state’s policy to maintain and restore healthy natural ecosystems that sustain communities, support the economy, provide for recreation, and preserve California’s history, culture, and traditions, while addressing the historic harms inflicted on wildlife, natural systems, and indigenous peoples. Committing to its return reaffirms the state’s natural heritage and strengthens the connection between California’s ecological past and its conservation future.