Put a Bear on Your Car, Help Keep Grizzlies Alive

In the vast Greater Yellowstone region, there's growing recognition of what some call "the grizzly economy." It's not a bearish attitude but rather bullish enthusiasm for recovery of an iconic Montana species, Ursus arctos horribilis, and the fact that grizzlies, as assets, are now worth far more alive than dead.

The shift from viewing grizzlies solely as liabilities is actually a radical historical departure, generations in the making, from a past in which bears were thoughtlessly cleared from the landscape, maligned as menaces, overhunted and shot at will by ranchers wishing to protect their...