All Research:
Public Lands and Outdoor Recreation
Slamming the Door on Low-Income People?
Are entrance charges keeping low-income people from enjoying the outdoors?
Forest Fires
A new series of books for young people offers objective and balanced discussions of controversial issues.
A Grazing Buy-Out?
Rocky Mountain NewsFall 2003 By Holly Lippke Fretwell Although little noticed by most Americans, grazing on federal land is a big business. Ranchers across the West lease permits to graze their cattle on about 250 million acres of federal land, an area more than twice the size of California. Some environmental groups, concerned that cattleContinue reading “A Grazing Buy-Out?”
Regulators Damage a Park
A professor at Case Western Law School writes about the perverse results of the Cleveland airport’s “mitigation” of the loss of a wetland. To build a new runway, the airport must pay to “create” wetlands by damaging a beautiful and serene park sixteen miles away.
Idaho’s Harriman State Park – A Model for the Future?
State parks across the nation are serving more and more visitors while struggling to preserve natural and cultural resources. As demands for tax-generated revenues grow, many state legislatures are cutting appropriations to their park systems. Shrinking funds and growing usage threaten the well-being of all our state parks.
Politics Manages the Public Lands
Senator Tom Daschle takes care of the Black Hills National Forest while much of the West burns.
South Carolina’s Jocassee Gorges –
RS-02-2: 2002 By Jody Lipford, Jerry Slice, and Bruce Yandle About the Authors About PERC Research Studies Executive Summary In 1997, the state of South Carolina acquired from Duke Energy Corporation 33,000 acres of undeveloped land known as the Jocassee Gorges. The $54 million property is part of the Blue Ridge Escarpment in the southern AppalachianContinue reading “South Carolina’s Jocassee Gorges –”
Environmental Counterblaze Distorts a Government Report
July 12, 2002 By Holly Lippke Fretwell BOZEMAN, Mont. – As cool, moist air at last reaches the Rocky Mountain West, some of the largest fires in Colorado and Arizona history are finally fading. Remaining fresh in our minds, however, are the bitter debates over the causes of those fires. By misusing a government report,Continue reading “Environmental Counterblaze Distorts a Government Report”
Why is the West Always Burning Down?
June 26, 2002 By Linda Platts and Holly Lippke Fretwell BOZEMAN, Mont. – A journalist from an eastern newspaper called our offices in Bozeman, Montana, last week to ask “Why is the West always burning down?” For those of us who live here, it is an exasperating question because we already know the answer. TheContinue reading “Why is the West Always Burning Down?”