Research Fellow
Huggins is a research fellow at PERC and the former director of outreach with PERC, as well as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. She is currently the manager of economic initiatives for the American Prairie Reserve and CEO of Montana Prairie Holdings, she leads a beef brand that supports wildlife-friendly ranching.
Huggins coauthored with Terry Anderson Property Rights: A Practical Guide to Freedom and Prosperity (2003 and 2009) and Greener Than Thou: Are You Really an Environmentalist? (2008). Her latest book, Environmental Entrepreneurship: Markets Meet the Environment in Unexpected Places was published in 2013. Huggins also edited Accounting for Mother Nature: Changing Demands for her Bounty (2007), Drug War Deadlock: The Policy Battle Continues (2005) and Population Puzzle: Boom or Bust? (2005).
Huggins is interested in the role of economic processes in shaping natural resource policy and in promoting market principles to a wide audience to help resolve environmental dilemmas. She previously served as the editor of PERC Reports—The Magazine of Free Market Environmentalism and has published in the popular press, including the Washington Times and Los Angeles Times.
She holds an M.S. in Public Policy and a B.S. in Political Science and Environmental Studies from Utah State University. Huggins and her husband live in Bozeman, Montana, with their two vivacious children. Any spare time she can find is spent rock climbing and fly fishing. Additionally, she serves on the Temple Fork Outfitters Advisory Board.
The collaboration between High West and APR provides an example of an innovative partnership that leverages shared values and culture to benefit both organizations and help preserve an at-risk ecosystem.
Future conservation efforts are likely to be more successful if they respect cultural norms and rely on incentives rather than punishment.
As public land battles simmer, a new private model emerges to pay ranchers to conserve wildlife.
American Prairie Reserve has created a public-private partnership in eastern Montana to restore 3.5 million acres of native flora and fauna.
Listen as Aaron Flint of "Voices of Montana" talks with Reed Watson, P.J. Hill, Shawn Regan, and Laura Huggins about free market environmentalism.