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Elk Occupancy Agreements

PERC and GYC have partnered with a family ranch to enact the first elk occupancy agreement in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Published on: November 29, 2021

Montana’s Wildlife Depends On Private Sector Partners

[…] vulnerable to development.It is impossible to conserve elk, wolves, grizzly bears, and other species without private lands and the people who steward them. Here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem 68 percent of the land is public, but the 32 percent that is private provides a significant share of important habitats like winter range, migration […]

Published on: October 19, 2021

How Visitors Can Keep National Parks from Being Loved to Death

[…] a million more visitors per year in this park, what does that mean for trash removal? How many more times do you have to clean the bathrooms?” Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly told the Property and Environment Research Center. A little more than a decade ago, Yellowstone had never hosted more than 3 million visits. […]

Published on: October 19, 2021

The Wolf Wars Are Back

[…] the room. “Hank Fischer,” the rancher shouted, “ain’t nobody killed you yet?” It might as well have been a scene out of Kevin Costner’s hit television show  Yellowstone. The “wolf wars,” as Fischer later dubbed them in his book by that title, pitted environmentalists against ranchers worried about carnivores killing their livestock. As the […]

Published on: August 20, 2021

The Irreplaceable Leigh H. Perkins

[…] this tribute, I will head off to fish the evening hatch for colorful cutthroats in the pools and riffles of a tucked-away creek that empties into the Yellowstone River. Leigh would have surely encouraged that, and he probably would have suggested that I drop the writing and leave a few hours early. Mixing a […]

Published on: July 19, 2021

Hybrids, Humans, and the Future of Conservation

[…] adapting in the face of that change. Several recent studies document how hybridization can help species adapt rapidly in this challenging world. Q: People sometimes talk about Yellowstone bison as being “genetically pure.” Should the bison population be glad about that? Should we? A: Yellowstone bison are the only bison in the United States […]

Published on: July 19, 2021

Elk in Paradise: Rancher, Ecologist, Hunter

Watch PERC’s short film in our Markets for Conservation series that tells the story of how private lands hold the key to conserving elk migration corridors in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Published on: July 15, 2021

Americans Can Unite Around America the Beautiful

[…] the right direction by recognizing the critical role farmers, ranchers, and the lands they steward play in safeguarding our environmental quality. A focus group of ranchers in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem convened by the Property and Environment Research Center in late 2019 revealed that the lack of public recognition for ranchers’ role in conservation was a […]

Published on: June 25, 2021

A Strong Start for America the Beautiful

[…] habitat, new tools are needed to turn wildlife from a liability for private landowners into an asset. Over the last few years, PERC’s work in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has set us on a course to develop a variety of tools that can reduce human-wildlife conflict, increase private land tolerance of migratory species, and […]

Published on: May 19, 2021

How to Make America the Beautiful

[…] 30 effort. These groups are positioned with the local knowledge to address the unique conservation challenges faced by every community. Here in Montana, groups like the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Group and the Blackfoot Challenge are actively bringing together landowners to promote sustainable and profitable stewardship. Groups like these should continue to lead and be […]

Published on: May 17, 2021