Bozeman, Montana July 31 – August 2, 2010 Directed by Daniel Benjamin, Matthew Turner, and Matthew Kahn Agenda Papers Introduction A PERC Lone Mountain Forum titled “Human Adaptation to Climate Change,” will be held July 31–August 2, 2011, at the PERC office in Bozeman, Montana. The focus of the ForumContinue reading “Human Adaptation to Climate Change”
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DeChristopher case begs question: What if enviros were allowed to bid on oil leases?
Why are ranchers and mineral companies allowed to bid on federal land leases, but the public cannot? If environmentalists could lease the land they want to conserve, taxpayers might see a higher return and also avoid some bitter disputes.
What If DeChristopher Could Bid?
Cross-posted at Grist. Photo: 350.Before By now you’ve probably heard the story of Tim DeChristopher, the 27-year-old activist who single-handedly shut down an entire Bureau of Land Management auction back in December 2008. DeChristopher, then a student at the University of Utah, snuck into the oil and gas leasing sale, posed as a bidder, andContinue reading “What If DeChristopher Could Bid?”
Forests and Wildfires: A Carbon Source or Sink?
Forests are a valuable part of the global carbon cycle. They hold the largest stock of terrestrial carbon on earth, mostly stored in living trees. Forests absorb, or sequester, carbon during photosynthesis. More carbon is absorbed in younger trees during faster growth phases. Carbon is emitted in decomposition and when wood is burned. Net carbonContinue reading “Forests and Wildfires: A Carbon Source or Sink?”
Ownership Encourages Stewardship: A Look at Stream Access in the West
High Country News reports on stream access laws in the West and provides the updated chart below, which originally appeared in PERC Reports: Recent attempts to limit Montana’s Stream Access Law, the most permissive in the West, have reignited debates over the impact of access laws. The Michell Slough in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, once considered an irrigation ditch, has featuredContinue reading “Ownership Encourages Stewardship: A Look at Stream Access in the West”
Lessons Learned in Rights-Based Fisheries Management
PERC’s latest workshop begins today on the lessons learned in rights-based fisheries management. Fisheries experts from around the world have arrived to discuss the most recent research being conducted on rights-based approaches to fisheries management — approaches that have proven to halt, or even reverse, the global trends toward overfishing. For the past few decades, PERC’sContinue reading “Lessons Learned in Rights-Based Fisheries Management”
Don’t Buy ‘More People, More Problems’
Mary Ellen Harte and Anne Ehrlich write,“Unsustainable population levels are depleting resources and denying a decent future to our descendants. We must stop the denial.” We are in denial for a reason. For more than 40 years, climaxing around the first Earth Day, the public has been bombarded with apocalyptic tales of disaster regarding populationContinue reading “Don’t Buy ‘More People, More Problems’”
The promise and Problems of Free Market Environmentalism
Free market environmentalism works well for problems pertaining to natural resource allocation, where well-defined property rights solve the problem of excludability.
Q&A with PERC Enviropreneur Dave Wager on Tree Ring Pens
Q&A and video with PERC Enviropreneur Dave Wager on Tree Ring Pens.
Managing for Wildfire
Are federal land management policies exacerbating wildfires? That is a question rightfully being asked by many Arizona politicians and citizens. By July 1, the state had already seen more than 1,000 fires ravaging over 750,000 acres and the loss of at least 100 structures and 40 homes. This year’s rabid wildfires are in part theContinue reading “Managing for Wildfire”