Bozeman, MT—Today the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) released a new report—10 Ideas for the Interior Department—at the outset of the new administration, offering a roadmap of conservation priorities for the Department of the Interior (DOI) aimed to ensure the long-term success of our nation’s vast natural resources, cherished public lands, and diverse wildlife while also promoting more effective, streamlined resource management.
As policymakers and legislators begin to tackle the new administration’s objectives, PERC’s recommendations encourage bold new policies directed at wildlife recovery, enhancing land stewardship, and promoting the responsible use of America’s natural resources. PERC leadership previewed these ten policy proposals to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum during a meeting with him earlier this month. Each reform is rooted in PERC’s long-standing approach of harnessing the power of markets, incentives, and property rights to achieve better environmental outcomes while simultaneously complementing the administration’s priority of cutting the “green tape” – streamlining burdensome regulations, permitting reform, and government efficiency.
From national park maintenance and international visitor fees to wild horse adoptions and endangered species recovery, the report identifies areas for improvement while providing actionable conservation outcomes for policymakers. These recommendations include:
- Triple the rate of endangered species recovery to 10 percent by recovering an additional 120 species.
- Delist grizzly bear populations in recognition of their remarkable recovery success and incentivize landowners to engage in stewardship.
- Cut to 60 days the time taken to issue voluntary conservation benefit agreements for endangered species.
- Double fee revenues to improve stewardship of national parks by charging international visitors more than domestic ones and implementing other smart pricing ideas.
- Stop the growth of the national park deferred maintenance backlog.
- Double annual wild horse adoptions to 12,000 to curb overpopulation on public rangelands and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by reinstating the Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Incentive Program.
- Advance grazing policy for the 21st century by shifting from prescriptive rules to results-driven management.
- Increase forest restoration on DOI lands by 25 percent, to 3 million acres per year, to mitigate wildfire risk and improve forest health.
- Pilot two true co-management agreements of national monuments with tribes.
- Conserve the 10 highest-priority western migrations using voluntary, privately funded, locally led approaches.
“Yesterday’s conservation tools are unable to solve today’s challenges, with burdensome regulations turning landowners into opponents rather than partners and green tape delaying critical support for our public lands and wildlife,” notes PERC CEO Brian Yablonski. “Secretary Burgum’s Interior Department is in a position to promote innovative, market-based policies that ensure more wildlife recovery and sustained success for our wild spaces, and we are encouraged by the Interior Department’s receptiveness and enthusiasm for many of these proposals. Our public lands require a creative approach to address the deep backlog of problems and it is incumbent on policymakers to take this opportunity to promote innovative, cost-effective solutions to address them.”
