The National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say they will resume studying the reintroduction of grizzly bears in the North Cascades Range.

The Trump administration stopped the study two years ago, citing local opposition. The federal agencies stated they were starting “a completely new process.”

“This is a first step toward bringing balance back to the ecosystem and restoring a piece of the Pacific Northwest’s natural and cultural heritage,” North Cascades National Park Superintendent Don Striker said in a statement.

The agencies in 2017 proposed restoring grizzlies to a 9,800-square-mile ecosystem in north-central Washington. The most aggressive reintroduction plan projected a population of 200 bears in 25 years.

Before the plan was final, President Trump’s Interior secretary, David Bernhardt, went to Okanogan County, Wash., and told relieved local officials that he was stopping further study.

Okanogan County Commissioner Andy Hover said Thursday he anticipated the Biden administration would resurrect the plan to reintroduce grizzlies.

“It’s not a surprise to me. I was expecting environmental groups to push for that with the change in administrations,” he said.

Environmental groups sued to force the Interior Department to resume planning to reintroduce grizzlies. As recently as last week, Biden administration lawyers defended canceling the project.

Center for Biological Diversity attorney Andrea Zaccardi said the administration gave no hint it would resume the study.

“This was a complete surprise to me, a pleasant surprise,” she said. “I think it’s fair to say the lawsuit kept the issue alive.”

USFWS and the park service started the previous environmental impact study in 2014. Comments received then “will inform” developing alternatives, according to the agencies.

“Hopefully, they can streamline the process,” Zaccardi said. “They’ve done the research.”

No grizzly has been sighted on the U.S. side of the North Cascades since 1996. One grizzly has been seen in the past five years in British Columbia within 20 miles of the border.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., said in a statement that his constituents have consistently opposed proposals to reintroduce grizzly bears.

Introducing an apex predator to the area would threaten families, wildlife and livestock, he said.

“It is disappointing that local voices are once again being ignored by federal bureaucrats, even after the last process was discontinued due to overwhelming local opposition,” Newhouse said.

The agencies stated they will consider designating grizzlies in the North Cascades an “experimental population,” potentially relaxing some Endangered Species Act protections.

“At least with that designation, there are better opportunities for managing them, in my opinion,” Hover said. “I would rather not have grizzly bears up in the Cascades at all.”

The Washington Legislature in 1996 passed a law that states, “Grizzly bears shall not be transplanted or introduced into the state.” Federal agencies have taken the position that the state law does not apply to federal lands.

Grizzly bears are attracted to beehives, orchards and livestock, according to the federal agencies. Hover said he’s concerned that grizzly bears won’t stay on federal lands.

“We’re going to again have to talk about our plight,” he said.