Although the state flag suggests otherwise, nearly a century has passed since grizzlies roamed California.
The last resident bear, reportedly spotted in 1924, was also the last of its subspecies: Ursus arctos californicus. These California grizzlies had reached an estimated population of 10,000 before Europeans arrived and triggered their steady demise.
Peter Alagona, an associate professor of history and environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is convinced that one day grizzlies can return to California. “Reintroduction is possible,” he says. “Absolutely possible.”
In 2016, Alagona formed the California Grizzly Research Network, a multidisciplinary initiative made up of more than two dozen academics ranging from geneticists to historians, to respond, in part, to the public’s growing interest in grizzlies. The group started by asking some practical questions that would need answers before any reintroduction: Where would the grizzlies come from? What would they eat? Where would they live? How might they affect the modern environment? How would they be received by locals?
