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Electrifying Pachyderms

[…] from poaching the wildlife, grazing it with livestock, and cutting the indigenous trees for firewood. A 24-mile electric fence enclosing 850 square miles (one-quarter the size of Yellowstone National Park) could accomplish this task, but only if the locals saw a direct benefit from it. By Terry Anderson As we sat eating dinner, a […]

Published on: January 1, 2012

Bison: Public to Private

Nearly 70 bison will soon find their way from Yellowstone National Park to a couple of Montana Indian reservations. The transfer is the outcome of negotiations between the state Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission and tribal officials. The tribes have long wanted the majestic beasts to return to their native ground. The long battle for relocation […]

Published on: December 27, 2011
Perc

Namibia Has A Lesson For Migrating Yellowstone Bison

Last year’s massive winter bison migration from Yellowstone National Park caused significant damage to surrounding ranches. Says one landowner: “When we’ve got 30 to 40 coming through my place at one time, they want to go through the fences, rub on my house, destroy my irrigation pipes.” Federal and state authorities captured and returned as […]

Published on: October 27, 2011

Don’t kill bears for acting like bears

Finding a man’s body in Yellowstone the day after he was killed by a grizzly is not a pretty sight. And certainly, it is a tragedy, writes PERC research assistant Brennan Jorgensen, “but so is tracking down and killing a wild animal in its own territory.” Jorgensen points out that more than $24 million dollars have gone toward grizzly recovery efforts in the greater Yellowstone area, but […]

Published on: October 6, 2011

Public-Private partners restore wetland

[…] The 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: August 1, 2011

Perspectives from PERC’s Enviropreneur Institute

[…] meat could be sold. Along with being a media entrepreneur and rancher, Turner is a committed conservationist. He controls more land holdings than the total size of Yellowstone National Park, and he has committed to putting conservation easements on every property he owns so that the natural state can be protected in perpetuity. Turner […]

Published on: July 2, 2011
Perc

Science or Political Science?

[…] of old or to maintain the goshawks preferred canopy. Science cannot tell us which is better; that is a value judgment. Are there too many bison in Yellowstone? Science can help define the carrying capacity of the park, but it cannot determine whether they should be allowed to roam outside of the park. That […]

Published on: April 21, 2011

10 Years Of Enviropreneurs

[…] Going Public The four days at the Flying D end as quickly as they began, and the learning now shifts from a private version of the park—“Ted’s Yellowstone”—to the public version. You head to Yellowstone National Park with your tour guide and enviropreneur extraordinaire, Hank Fischer. Hank is the former manager of the wolf […]

Published on: February 23, 2011

Will new brucellosis rules let the bison roam?

By Holly Fretwell PERC Research Fellow Adjunct Professor, Montana State University As hundreds of bison make their annual winter migration out of Yellowstone National Park, most are hazed back into the park. Others are captured, quarantined, and occasionally slaughtered. This year, more than 500 bison are being held by state and federal officials. If the […]

Published on: February 16, 2011