[…] as public lands, they were initially managed at the local level, and management even bordered on privatization because specific individuals or groups were virtual owners. For example, Yellowstone National Park (like other national parks) was de facto owned by a railroad (Anderson and Hill 1996). Today, however, federal agencies such as the Forest Service, […]
[…] spurred the creation of our greatest national parks. Today we would say that their intentions were less important than the dramatic outcome. In his book, Searching for Yellowstone, environmental historian Paul Schullery aptly sums up the motivations that led to our first national park’s founding. “Human nature was not on holiday. The people who […]
[…] Kinship fellows heard lectures on topics such as property rights, risk analysis, transferable fishing quotas, and conservation easements, as well as fund-raising and marketing. They went to Yellowstone National Park, where Hank Fischer explained his wolf compensation fund. Each participant worked with a PERC mentor on a specific project applying free market approaches’in Russia […]
[…] you the Atlantic coastline; Shenandoah National Park in Virginia welcomes you to the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachian Trail; gushing geysers can be found in Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park; and mossy green tree trunks and a misty shoreline beckon at Washington’s Olympic National Park. The crown jewels of this nation’s park system are […]
A Yellowstone gray wolf. ©Yellowstone National Park The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is broken. Indeed, it was born broken. Enacted in 1973, the act is based on the myth of the balance of nature and, in particular, on a flawed understanding of the biological state of the Americas at the time of Columbus’s […]
[…] Cerros Del Abrigo scanning the grasslands of the Valle Grande spread out below, you might feel as though you’re looking down on the famed Lamar Valley of Yellowstone. Abundant elk herds feed in wide swaths of emerald grasses, and miles of prime trout streams give way to hillsides of ponderosa pine. Park-like forests provide […]
[…] means that decisions about park budgets and how to run them are heavily politic! ized. One result: The fees charged for entrance to such crown jewels as Yellowstone National Park are seriously underpriced to please voters. On a brief trip through Yellowstone a few days ago, my wife and I, as well as a […]
[…] different. Unwilling to pay their share, they ignore the fact that recreation affects federal lands as much as timber harvesting, mining, or grazing. The sewage system at Yellowstone National Park was overwhelmed by park visitors disposing eighteen rolls of toilet paper daily in 1998 and 1999. As Yellowstone dumped raw sewage into nearby pristine […]
[…] value exceeding $150 billion. Despite this wealth of resources, there are serious infrastructure and environmental problems. There are billions of dollars in maintenance backlogs, sewage contamination in Yellowstone, and 90 to 200 million acres of federal land at high risk of catastrophic fire. The root of the problem is not a lack of funds […]
[…] recreation away from home and 30 percent more likely to participate in outdoor recreation close to home (Lee, Scott, and Floyd 2001, 439). The costs of visiting Yellowstone National Park illustrate the importance of travel expenses. If a family of four traveled from Washington, D.C., my calculations show that it would spend between $770 […]