# Plain Language Summary of H.R. 5927

This bill would require the Secretary of the Interior to cancel two government documents related to bringing grizzly bears back to the North Cascades region in Washington State. The first document is a proposed rule from the Fish and Wildlife Service that would establish a small population of grizzly bears in that ecosystem as an "experimental population." The second is a draft environmental impact statement—basically a detailed study examining the potential effects of reintroducing grizzlies to the area. If this bill passes, the government would have to officially withdraw both of these documents and stop working on them.

The practical effect would be to halt any plans to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades. Right now, grizzlies live in only two areas of the lower 48 states: the Northern Rockies and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The Fish and Wildlife Service had been exploring whether it made sense to establish a third population in Washington's North Cascades mountains. This bill would essentially shut down that exploration and prevent the reintroduction from moving forward.

Who this affects depends on your perspective. Conservationists and wildlife advocates who support grizzly recovery would see this as a setback to their goals of restoring the species to more of its historic range. On the other hand, people living in or near the North Cascades—including ranchers, hunters, and outdoor recreationalists—who worry about conflicts with grizzlies would likely support stopping the reintroduction plan. The bill essentially takes the decision out of the hands of federal wildlife agencies and makes it through Congress instead.