The Stewardship Strategy will uphold and highlight the cultural underpinnings, values, responsibilities, and knowledge systems of Indigenous People from the Nations leading this process. A Steering Committee will oversee the implementation of the Stewardship Strategy and necessary actions for NCE grizzly conservation through the objectives and strategies presented in this document. The NCE  Steering Committee is committed to supporting comprehensive stakeholder and public engagement with local voices at the table.

A framework through which grizzly bears can be restored to the North Cascades landscape, and stewarded for the generations to come, through partnership and collaboration.

Grizzly bears have lived in this region and safely coexisted with Indigenous Peoples for many generations and are a necessary part of the land. They have an inherent right to persist and thrive on the landscape and have an intrinsic value to all people.

Grizzly bear recovery and stewardship must be informed by the diverse and distinct Indigenous cultural values, local community knowledge, and relationships between people and grizzly bears, and respect Indigenous rights and traditional laws and advance reconciliation principles, as outlined in B.C.’s DRIPA Action Plan.

Grizzly bear recovery and stewardship should respect the varied uses of grizzly bears by Indigenous Peoples, including cultural uses, viewing, hunting, and ecological functions, and primarily requires addressing or modifying human behaviors and actions toward bears and their habitat, recognizing that all living things are interconnected.

Grizzly bear recovery and stewardship requires all governments, relevant boards and councils, industry, organizations, communities, and individuals to work together, and must be informed by and based on multiple sources of Knowledge.

Grizzly bear recovery and stewardship actions need to be adaptive to new information and innovations and require careful consideration for the effects climate change has on habitat and resources for bears.