Rockies has played a role in the way society thinks about the importance of protecting big, natural landscapes—wild ecosystems—and the wonders such as geysers that lie inside them.

Beyond geysers and other geologic splendors, the Greater Yellowstone region is an enduring global beacon for wildlife preservation. The mosaic of public lands here has been central to rescuing American bison from the brink of total annihilation, also trumpeter swans, pure strains of wild trout, elk, and, perhaps best-known, wolves. It was just last winter that Yellowstone National Park celebrated the twentieth anniversary of wolf reintroduction. Bringing back lobos, eradicated in this area by humans in the 1930s, represents an uncommon kind of biological redemption for mistakes committed by humans against nature in the past.

While momentous, the restoration of wolves pales2000s, and may even be in decline.”

Grand Teton National Park has become known for its “roadside bears” that are frequently visible to park visitors. Photograph by Scott McKinley

Van Manen and Haroldson say the growth rate of the population has slowed, but it is still increasing. Independent grizzly expert David Mattson, who formerly was a member of the study team with Haroldson and has recently retired from the U.S. Geological Survey, parent of the study team, says that bear numbers did grow dramatically from the 1990s until recently.

However, grizzly population growth, he says, has been based upon an abundance of natural foods, namely four key staples: spawning cutthroat trout in the streams around Yellowstone Lake every spring; the highly nutritious seeds of whitebark pine trees that nourish bears in