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PERC Launches Brucellosis Compensation Fund with Partners to Support Ranchers Who Provide Elk Habitat

[…] critical habitat for migrating elk. The project brings together a coalition of conservationists, hunters, ranchers, and community members to protect elk migration and open space. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s iconic migrating elk herds depend on working lands for their survival. Thousands of elk descend on Montana’s Paradise Valley every year to feed on ranch […]

Published on: December 8, 2022

Testimony on Overcrowding in National Parks

Crowding at Midway Geyser Basin boardwalk near Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park. © NPS Testimony before the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Hearing on “Lessons from the Field: Overcrowding in National Parks” Main Points Recent visitation growth in some national parks comes with real management challenges for ensuring […]

Published on: December 6, 2022

Arizona State University Professor Dr. Bryan Leonard Promoted to PERC Senior Fellow

[…] Barbara and a Master’s in Applied Economics from Montana State University. Explore Dr. Leonard’s recent work: A Plan to Solve the Colorado River Crisis The Role of Private Lands in Conserving Yellowstone’s Wildlife in the Twenty-First Century Conservation Groups Should Be Able to Lease Land to Protect It Allow “Nonuse Rights” to Conserve Natural Resources

Published on: October 27, 2022

Promoting Innovation and Diffusing Conflict Over Federal Grazing Lands

[…] policy encourages negative-sum litigation and political conflict.  On private land, similar conflicts can be—and often are—resolved through collaboration and voluntary means. For instance, PERC and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition recently partnered with a rancher in Paradise Valley, MT, on an “elk occupancy agreement” under which the conservation groups compensated the landowner for managing 500 […]

Published on: September 20, 2022

Yellowstone’s Innovative Flood Response Offers a Lesson for All National Parks

© Yellowstone National Park This article was originally published in The Hill. The historic 1,000-year flood that caused widespread damage in and around Yellowstone National Park was truly unprecedented. Floodwaters wiped out bridges, washed away miles of roads and flooded or destroyed hundreds of homes in surrounding communities, leaving large portions of the park inaccessible to […]

Published on: June 28, 2022

The Big Burn of 1910 and the Choking of America’s Forests

[…] years of this century, there have already been 35—seven in 2021 alone. The 2020 August Complex Fire in Northern California became the nation’s first “gigafire” since the Yellowstone Fire of 1988, consuming more than 1 million acres across three national forests. Drought, fire weather, and climate change are all contributing factors. Less discussed, however, […]

Published on: June 23, 2022