All Research:
Healthy Public and Private Lands
Farming Our Parks
Federal land management agencies are increasingly receptive to innovative partnerships that can help share the burden of managing millions of acres of public land. In the case of Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, farmers are being sought to run about 35 small family farms. The legislation that created the 33,000-acre national park 25 yearsContinue reading “Farming Our Parks”
Homesteading the Oceans: The Case for Property Rights in U.S. Fisheries
Overfishing in the oceans is a classic example of the "tragedy of the commons"—overexploitation of an unowned resource. Fishing in U.S. waters is no longer a commons free of fishing restrictions, yet many fisheries still suffer from the tragedy of the commons.
Federal Land Exchanges: Let’s End the Barter
It's time to let federal agencies buy and sell land, says Tim Fitzgerald in a new PERC Policy Series paper. Federal Land Exchanges: Let's End the Barter offers a practical way to reform the costly and time-wasting federal land exchange process.
Is Bigger Better?
“If we are to protect America’s most valued lands, federal land management policies must be reformed and private conservation efforts encouraged,” says PERC researcher Holly Lippke Fretwell.
No ‘Commercialization’ of Yellowstone
Tiny microbes living in the mud-pots and geysers of Yellowstone National Park have sparked a mammoth controversy. Scientists think the genetic materials of these microbes could lead to medical breakthroughs or, at the very least, improve consumer products. In 1997, park officials signed an agreement with a corporation that had previously been prospecting the microbesContinue reading “No ‘Commercialization’ of Yellowstone”
Cataloging Parks
While there has been no lack of news coverage on the sad state of our national parks, there is still not enough money to shore up the buildings and patch the roads. To help fill the gap, two energetic entrepreneurs turned their disappointment over a canceled trip to Yosemite during the 1995 government closure intoContinue reading “Cataloging Parks”
Paying to Play: The Fee Demonstration Program
The federal government's program to raise entrance and user fees in national parks and forests is an important step in the right direction, says PERC researcher Holly Fretwell.
A Trust for Grand Staircase-Escalante
Private land trusts are proliferating around the nation as ways of preserving environmental values. So why not a federal land trust to manage the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah?
Incentives key to improving park service
Bozeman Daily Chronicle August 4, 1999 By Richard Stroup The special corner of God’s country called Yellowstone National Park is constantly in the news — and the news is often bad. We learn that there are too many visitors, too many elk, too many crumbling roads, and not enough money. On July 25 theContinue reading “Incentives key to improving park service”