Writing for PERC, R. David Simpson gives an intriguing example of salmon preservation: Native American tribes in Oregon considered bidding on a dam license (to change its operations in ways that would protect salmon). The result: a productive relationship with the dam owners—a cooperative effort to protect salmon. Here is an excerpt from Simpson’s paper:…
Search Results for: property rights
How to Reduce Deforestation in Brazil? Establish Property Rights
By Jane Shaw Stroup In a classic illustration of the way that property rights can protect the environment, Brazil is attempting to establish property rights for squatters who have been cutting down trees in the Amazon in order to create pastureland for cattle. The Wall Street Journal just published a comprehensive overview of this plan…
Holly Fretwell
Director of outreach and a research fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). For two decades, her research has focused on public lands policy and property rights. As an outdoor enthusiast, Fretwell strives to enhance conservation through cooperation and entrepreneurship.
Beach House Burns but Couple Can’t Rebuild
Four and a half years ago Michael and Cathy Zito’s house on the North Carolina coast burned down. State and local governments have prevented the Zitos from rebuilding—and refuse to compensate them for the loss of their home! Erin Wilcox writes in the Carolina Journal: “The Zitos’ house was built in 1982 when it was…
White Moose and Public Sacrifice
What ethical and legal claims can religion can make on resources and the property of others who do not share the faith? We begin with hunting. Every hunting season brings outrage and lament at the news that a hunter has killed a “white moose.” The animal killed could be elk, deer, or any animal that…
The Surprising Spread of Free Market Environmentalism
This is the second post by Shawn Regan of PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center, on “what free market environmentalists support.” Those who support the role of property rights and markets in environmental protection may not realize how many organizations agree with them. Here are a few examples (for others see Part I of…
What Do Free Market Environmentalists Support?
This is a guest post by Shawn Regan, vice president of research at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana. He is also the executive editor of PERC Reports. By Shawn Regan Free market environmentalism used to involve academic study showing ways that private property rights can protect the environment, often when the government…