Introduction by John Baden, Chairman, FREE In last week’s FREE Insight Mary Roloff wrote of her family farm and the culture in which it is embedded. “My grandfather … carried a gun to protect himself from those that would do him harm, take what didn’t belong to them, hurt his family, or to kill […]
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Introduction by John Baden, Chairman, FREE There are many dimensions along which Americans view their politics and society. Here is one with which I resonate. It is by Mary Roloff, one of the colleagues I most respect in some 50 years of university, foundation, and think-tank work. In this FREE Insight Mary writes of […]
Read MoreI’m writing this on Groundhogs Day, February 2. Ramona and I are seven miles east of Ashton, Idaho near the Yellowstone Park border. YNP is an excellent place to explore parables of environmental stewardship so FREE’s work naturally features Yellowstone. Our July 15-19 conference, “Harmonizing Ecology, Prosperity, and Liberty”, will include a day in Yellowstone […]
Read MoreIntroduction by Dr. John A. Baden, Chairman, FREE Alcohol Poisoning According to Gallup, Congress began 2013 with an approval rating of 14%. Another firm, Public Policy Polling, found that Congress has only a 9% favorability rating, (one) below traffic jams. ” Congress is now less popular than root canals, NFL replacement referees, head lice, the rock […]
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Pete Geddes is the General Director of the American Prairie Reserve. This is an entrepreneurial foundation dedicated to restoring 3,000,000 acres of grassland and its wildlife and ranches. It’s their “American Serengeti”. Pete came to Bozeman from Missoula nearly 17 years ago after earning his graduate degree in forestry from the U of M. One […]
Read MoreHere’s a true, empirical, universal generalization; issues involving environmental policy are both scientifically complex and highly emotional. These are ingredients for error and acrimony. The reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park offers a dramatic illustration of my point. It is the most contentious environmental subject I have observed in 50-plus years of involvement. This […]
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Romanticism and nostalgia; everyone who lives in the Gallatin Valley seems to develop one or both. In the face of dramatic growth, residents lament that the area can’t be frozen at some point in time. For some, that point would recall a farming and ranching population to a place where the cultural center was a […]
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I lived in Seattle during the academic years of the early 1990s. Ramona and I had sold our half band of breeding ewes (A band of sheep is 1,000 animals.), but ran a few dozen horses on our winter range. A good neighbor fed and monitored the horses while another friend lived in the manager’s […]
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The American Prairie Foundation (APF) may be America’s most ambitious conservation organization. I’ve long admired it from afar, provided modest support, and hope to visit the area again. Getting there, however, is quite the trek. Here’s how the Spokesman Review described the reserve’s location: “To reach the refuge, tourists are going to have to travel […]
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Ramona and I delight in ranch life in the Gallatin Gateway community. There are immense social and environmental benefits to this rural setting, notably friends and excellent access to the urban qualities of Bozeman and surrounding outdoor treasures. We have many long-term neighbors we like, admire, and trust. Most are farmers and ranchers with whom […]
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