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Burgeoning conservation problems and shrinking resources to deal with them have fostered an ongoing paradigm shift from single-species management to ecosystem management. Simultaneously, the main conservation goal has become maximization of biodiversity. The fact that both ecosystem management and biodiversity have various meanings is ominous for conservation of some species, such as charismatic large mammals. The focus on processes rather than species, and on species richness rather than identity, could detract from conservation of bears (Ursidae). On the other hand, management of large blocks of habitat can be helpful. Bears are highly symbolic to humans in many contexts and thus are natural flagship species, capable of attracting attention and resources to large conservation efforts. There is currently insufficient information to qualify them as keystone species-species whose fate directly determines those of many other species in a system. However, because they have large and often well-defined habitat requirements and some species have been well-studied, they may be excellent umbrella species: their maintenance would require habitat management that would also maintain populations of many other species. The facts that ecosystem management is currently heralded as the governing paradigm for much conservation and that bears may serve as umbrella species to assist ecosystem management pose an enormous challenge to researchers. There are few empirically tested methods in the ecosystem management toolbox, and developing and testing such methods will require testing insightful hypotheses and conducting intensive monitoring, some of which will have to be long-term. Without such research and monitoring, 'ecosystem management,' 'biodiversity conservation,' and 'umbrella species' will remain catchphrases rather than operational terms.