“THE Tragedy of the Commons” is the best known article on ecology. It was printed in Science magazine in 1968 and has been reprinted hundreds of times in dozens of fields ranging from anthropology to zoology. Its essential message is profound yet simple: If a valuable resource is open to all, if it is common […]

DATELINE: ENTERPRISE RANCH, GALLATIN VALLEY, MONTANA Our ranch lies in the northern reaches of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Calving has started, lambing will shortly follow, and soon we’ll put the livestock out to range. And wolves have just arrived in Yellowstone Park. In Montana, and in Idaho as well, few issues are more complex and […]

MANY environmentalists oppose hunting. They find the idea of killing animals for sport repulsive and incomprehensible. For these people, sport hunting is an obsolete remnant of our barbaric past, one excised by civilized cultures This position is empathically understandable, but logically paradoxical because hunters are important supporters of wildlife habitat protection. Hunters save habitat as […]