It’s a spectacularly romantic idea—returning a large swathe of western grazing land to prairie land, with bison, elk, cougars, prairie dogs, grouse, and other wildlife. That’s the goal of the American Prairie Reserve, whose owners hope to create open prairie and wildlife range extending over 3.2 million acres in northeastern Montana. “We want to restore…
Search Results for: environmental management
A Century of Poor Forest Management Explains the Ferocity of California Fires
No, Governor Newsom, it’s not climate change that is intensifying California fires; it is poor forest management, says Michael Shellenberger, writing for Forbes. He is responding to statements by Newsom such as “What we are experiencing is an existential climate crisis.” Shellenberger sees other reasons. “California’s leading forest scientists say that fire suppression and the accumulation of wood…
Let Environmentalists Bid
In this guest post by Shawn Regan, a research fellow and the director of publications at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana, looks at the fact that to acquire rights to natural resources in the West, you must use the resource. This is an obvious barrier to many would-be environmentalist bidders.
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Endangered Species Parks Wildlife Property Rights Environmental Management Climate Change Global Warming Federal Management Habitat Hunting Pollution Water Regulation Energy
Authors
John A. Baden is founder and chairman of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE), located in Bozeman, Montana. Baden, who received his Ph.D. in political science from Indiana University in 1969, was a leader in developing the New Resource Economics, an incentive-based approach to environmental and natural resource management. He has…
John A. Baden
Founder of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE), located in Bozeman, Montana. Baden and his wife, Prof. Ramona Marotz-Baden, are skiers and cyclists. They manage a productive ranch in the Gallatin Valley of Montana and enjoy active and happy lives.
Going Against the Grain
In 1973, John Baden and Richard Stroup proposed selling off the U. S. Forest Service to private owners. In an article in the Journal of Law and Economics, they argued that commercial timber would be better managed by private companies, and non-profit organizations like the Sierra Club could protect the important environmental areas.[1] That essay…