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A Path Forward for the Grizzly Bear

[…] species recovery. Read the full issue. It was a bison. At least, that’s what it looked like at first glance. We were deep in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park fishing a creek that meandered through an expansive meadow. My wife was casting toward a cutbank across the creek, hoping to entice a rising […]

Published on: October 17, 2023

A Field Guide for Wildlife Recovery

[…] 48: 7,500 Listed in: 1978 Wolf pack area range: 25 – 150 square miles 3. Fix the Off-Ramp By Jonathan Wood In 1995, nearly 70 years after Yellowstone’s last wolf pack was killed by park rangers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife reintroduced the species back to the region.31Yellowstone National Park, “Wolf Restoration,” accessed April […]

Published on: September 20, 2023

PERC Launches New Conservation Innovation Lab

[…] Compensation Fund, a privately funded compensation program that enhances wildlife tolerance by helping ranchers address the costs associated with disease transmitted from elk to cattle in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Recently, PERC also established a first-of-its-kind Grizzly Conflict Reduction Grazing Agreement supporting a rancher’s efforts to implement wildlife-friendly livestock grazing practices.  Rapid prototypes and partnerships […]

Published on: August 24, 2023

How States Shape Wildlife Conservation on Private Lands

[…] are generally of lower density than populations in the East, and they often spend significant amounts of time on private lands during hunting season.  In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, for example, elk spend the warmer months in the high country, which is overwhelmingly public land, but spend 80 percent of their winters on private […]

Published on: June 26, 2023

The Biden Administration’s Proposed Roadblock to Species Recovery

[…] prevents extinctions but also succeeds in recovering imperiled species, explore the links below.  The Road to Recovery: How restoring the Endangered Species Act’s two-step process can prevent extinction and promote recovery “ Yellowstone” and the Endangered Species Act: Incentives for species recovery need more carrot and less stick Don’t Reject Trump’s Endangered Species Rules Outright

Published on: June 22, 2023
Elk in Paradise Valley

Are Conservation Leases the Key to Resolving Competing Demands on Public Lands?

[…] demands? On private lands, the answer is simple: They negotiate. When my organization, PERC, sought to conserve habitat for elk and other wildlife on private lands near Yellowstone, we worked with a rancher to come up with a deal. In exchange for setting aside a portion of their ranch for migrating elk, PERC paid the […]

Published on: May 24, 2023
Bull elk in snowy terrain.

This Earth Day, Let’s Put Markets to Work for Conservation

[…] as a cure not a curse on the environment. Harnessing private capital to sustain wildlife habitat With rapid regional growth, ranchers in Montana’s large working lands outside Yellowstone National Park face growing pressure to sell to developers for subdivisions, threatening iconic wildlife populations.  Migratory elk herds in particular rely on working ranches for up […]

Published on: April 22, 2023
Man on horse riding through a prairie.

How We’re Investing in Our Planet This Earth Day

[…] through government action, but through individual cooperation and voluntary trade. 1. Elk Occupancy Agreement As elk herds make their annual migration out of the high country in Yellowstone National Park down to their winter range on the private agricultural lands of Paradise Valley, they find themselves at the center of controversy. While the elk […]

Published on: April 18, 2023
Temple Stoellinger

University of Wyoming Professor Temple Stoellinger Promoted to PERC Senior Fellow

[…] topics such as reforming federal grazing to enable markets for voluntary conservation, encouraging species recovery under the Endangered Species Act, motivating private land conservation in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and channeling visitor enthusiasm into more sustainable funding mechanisms for national parks.  “Temple’s contributions to PERC’s scholarship have been invaluable,” said PERC Vice President of […]

Published on: April 13, 2023

A New Tool to Help Share the Cost of Living With Wildlife

Spring has arrived, and for many Montanans that comes along with excitement for warmer days ahead. But for the hard-working cattle ranchers in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, springtime brings new challenges. One of those is the risk of brucellosis, a reproductive disease that elk and bison can transmit to cattle. Each year, thousands of […]

Published on: April 10, 2023