I’m writing this column in support of environmental quality prior to the election. I hope voters purge two types of politicians; troglodytes who confuse conservative with exploitative, and watermelons, those green on the outside and pink within. Remember Jim Watt? When appointed Secretary of Interior in 1981, he led the “Sagebrush Rebellion”. He promised to […]
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BOZEMAN, Mont. — The American bison, down to a few hundred remnant animals in Teddy Roosevelt’s day, is making a great comeback. Today there are more than 250,000 buffalo, and the number is steadily increasing. Bison ranchers are doing very well indeed — alas, partly at taxpayer expense. In contrast, cattle ranchers are having a […]
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Americans have become increasingly supportive of environmental protection. Ironically, however, recent battles to save endangered species jeopardize the survival of this conservation movement. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) itself may be endangered. How have we gone astray with endangered species? Let’s first consider the Act’s history. The 1973 passage of the ESA expanded the federal […]
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The recent budget deal and mid-term elections show why Republicans continue to take a beating. Despite their purported ideology of limited government, Republicans kowtow to special interests favoring crass exploitation of public resources. They are silent when profitable private acts have negative public consequences, for example former Senator Lauch Faircloth’s hog farms in North Carolina. […]
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It’s time for some good news about America. By historical standards, the vast majority of Americans are exceedingly well off. This is important because richer is healthier, safer – and more environmentally sensitive. We have greatly improved environmental quality since the first Earth Day. However, the easy problems have been solved. More complex issues of […]
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The West has long considered natural resource industries – logging, mining, and ranching – as economic keystones. Westerners have relied upon the federal “landlord” for substantial economic benefits. The world’s largest system of water diversions and network of forest access roads (eight times the mileage of the U.S. interstate highway system) testify to their success. […]
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Fisheries Management Fisheries are complex environments in which fish are just a single inhabitant. Other species, climate change, habitat modification, fishermen, consumers, and bureaucrats all impact fisheries. Economics, as much as ecology, define fisheries. The success or failure of a fishery can hinge on small changes in the composition of local fishermen, in the policies […]
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When the route to immortality is to become a government program, how can wasteful, dysfunctional bureaucracies be weeded out? Try a “predatory bureaucracy.” A predator is an organism that captures and extracts its sustenance from other animals. We can learn a great deal about the federal budget by, as a simple thought experiment, introducing a […]
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Environmental activists, freedom lovers, and those preferring a less intrusive government share a common perception. They see the government agencies responsible for natural resource management as bureaucratic parasites. Rather than steward our resources, they systematically advocate programs that are environmentally costly, are financially wasteful, and increase the scope of the federal government at the expense […]
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“Strange bedfellows make interesting children.” This observation from Don Snow, Arts and Literary Director of Gallatin Institute, applies to the recently released “Green Scissors” report. The report originated from a hitherto latent coalition of environmentalists and pro-market advocates. On the one side, we have Rep. Kasich (R-OH), a “Gingrich acolyte.” On the other is Ralph […]
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