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“The grizzly bear is one we consider to be a guardian, a symbol of regeneration and transition, and one who represents wisdom and the gift of healing. The grizzly bear is sacred, not a “trophy” to be killed for “sport.” It is estimated that some 110,000 square miles of biologically suitable grizzly habitat exists in this region, much of which our ancestors knew intimately. Our ancestors knew the grizzly in ways we do not today because non-Native ranchers and hunters eradicated the grizzly from our homelands in the 1930s. If the grizzly is not returned to these areas, as is the intent of the ESA, and federal protections are removed from the few bears that exists today, our people and future generations will only know of the grizzly through the imagery our ancestors left us that tell of the sacred nature of this being.”

Governor Val R. Panteah, Sr.

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