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NPS Franchise: A Better Way to Protect Our Heritage

  Roosevelt Arch at Yellowstone’s North Entrance. Photo courtesy of Claire Kittle Dixon.   As part of the George Wright Forum‘s National Park Centennial Essay Series, Holly Fretwell offers a serious strategy to add value to the NPS brand and protect new areas without spreading the NPS budget any thinner: As the National Park Service […]

Published on: September 17, 2015

The Bear, The Bison, and The Business of Yellowstone

[…] pines. As the scene unfurled and the grizzly heaved towards us, it was hard not to notice his large, ivory-colored claws leading the way. Pelican Valley in Yellowstone National Park might just be the closest thing to America’s Serengeti. Situated on the north end of Yellowstone Lake, the valley is a broad sweep of […]

Published on: August 31, 2015

Stephen Mather’s Ghost

[…] slight how the national parks in fact evolved. Before Mather had reached the age of five, the Philadelphia financier Jay Cooke had prevailed on Congress to establish Yellowstone as a “public park.” Chartered in 1864, his proposed Northern Pacific Railroad was to cross Montana some sixty miles to the north. Like the nation’s first […]

Published on: August 11, 2015

How Free Market Environmentalism is Transforming Parks

Captain Moses Harris led his band of troopers into Yellowstone National Park in 1886 when the park—and the national park idea itself—faced its greatest threat yet. In response to allegations of corruption, Congress had recently cut the meager funding it provided to the park. Poaching was rampant. Tourists carved off huge sections of the fragile travertine […]

Published on: August 3, 2015

National Parks Centennial Issue of PERC Reports

[…] 2016, the National Park Service will celebrate its 100-year anniversary. The agency is responsible for managing some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world, from the crown jewels of Yellowstone and Yosemite to lesser-known treasures such as Capitol Reef and Congaree. To me, national parks have special meaning. For several years, I worked as a backcountry ranger […]

Published on: July 27, 2015

Back to the Future of America’s National Parks

In 2016, the National Park Service will celebrate its 100th anniversary. With “crown jewels” such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon in its asset portfolio, it’s no wonder this bureaucracy is a favorite of the American people. A recent survey of visitors to Yosemite National Park showed a 98 percent satisfaction rate with […]

Published on: July 20, 2015

Learning from Success and Failure

[…] by Terry Anderson. Kenya banned hunting completely in 1977. The result of the ban is no better illustrated than on Galana Ranch, a property almost as large as Yellowstone Park. The Galana story is one that should be in every hunter’s arsenal for responding to anti-hunters because it illustrates what hunting can do for wildlife and what […]

Published on: May 1, 2015

Defining Ideas: Environmentalism for the Next Generation

[…] the sake of punishing. For example, Hank Fischer, working for Defenders of Wildlife, raised private funds to compensate ranchers who had livestock killed by wolves reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has purchased permits from commercial fishermen in Morrow Bay, California, to reduce trawl fishing, which was decimating the […]

Published on: February 23, 2015

Wetlands Restoration at O’Dell Creek

[…] Lazslo’s 13,000-acre ranch sits in the middle of the Madison Valley amidst a one million-acre corridor that runs from the small town of Ennis, Montana, south to Yellowstone National Park. The valley is channeled by the Madison River and framed by the Madison and Gravelly mountain ranges. Most of the valley is privately owned, […]

Published on: February 3, 2015

National park entrance fees deserve a hike

[…] national parks are becoming too expensive. But even with the fee hike, national parks would still be one of the best bargains around. Large parks such as Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier would raise entrance fees by only $5. That means a seven-day visit to Glacier or the Grand Tetons would cost $30 per […]

Published on: December 15, 2014