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When the “Free Market” Isn’t Free: Why the American Prairie Reserve Fails the True Test of Market Environmentalism

July 13, 2026

For decades, the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) has championed a powerful idea: free-market environmentalism. The core philosophy is simple yet profound—environmental quality can be best achieved through well-defined property rights, open market competition, and voluntary exchange, rather than top-down bureaucratic mandates. It’s an approach that respects local communities, values production, and relies on a level playing field. While some conservationists attempt to bridge the gap between PERC’s philosophy and the sweeping ambitions of the American Prairie Reserve (APR), a closer look reveals a glaring disconnect. For Montana’s ranching families—who have sustainably managed these landscapes for generations—APR’s operations don’t represent a triumph of the...

Is American Prairie Private or Public

March 19, 2026

By Terry L. AndersonProfessor Emeritus, Montana State University The nonprofit American Prairie recently announced the purchase of 2,083 acres of wetlands in Phillips County, Montana. The property was privately owned but already protected by a conservation easement held by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. Because the easement already limited development and the land is not especially suited for ranching, the additional conservation value of the purchase is uncertain. What it clearly does is add another asset to American Prairie’s expanding land portfolio. The announcement highlights a larger question: What kind of institution is American Prairie? The organization describes itself as a nonprofit public–private partnership supported by donors across the...

Department of Interior considers vacating APR grazing permits

December 16, 2025

A coalition of Montana counties has petitioned the Department of Interior (DOI) to vacate a 2022 decision that allows American Prairie Reserve (APR) bison to graze on BLM allotments. In response, DOI Secretary Doug Burgum on December 9 took the extraordinary step of assuming jurisdiction over a review of the 2022 decision. The result of this move portends to be a major blow to APR’s plan to establish a 3.5-million-acre private nature preserve in the heart of Montana. In a detailed filing with DOI, the Montana Natural Resource Coalition of Counties (MTNRC) points out that BLM lands are reserved for livestock grazing and cannot be rewilded. Furthermore, BLM regulations give grazing preference to “cattle, sheep, horses, burros, and goats.” MTNRC contends the 2022 decision to...

Checkerboard—It’s not just a Town

July 5, 2024

By Terry L. AndersonJohn and Jean DeNault Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University When residents of Meagher County hear the word “checkerboard,” they likely think of the tiny town 20 miles to the east of White Sulphur Springs, but to ranchers in Wyoming it is a fighting word. The fighting started in 2020 when four Missouri hunters got elk tags to hunting in the southwestern part of Wyoming near the Elk Mountain Ranch, owned by an “out-of-stater” from North Carolina. The hunters knew there was no public hunting allowed on the ranch, and they also knew that the lack of access made the ranch and adjacent public land a haven for elk. Their solution to the access problem was “checkerboarding.” Look at any cadastral map of Montana and you will know what it means. Federal...

What Montanans lose with each APR land acquisition

June 30, 2024

American Prairie Reserve has been crowing about their recent ranch purchases in Phillips County. What they won’t tell you is those acquisitions come at a cost to you and every other Montanan. It’s important to reflect on what we’re losing when APR removes land from agricultural production. Most regretfully we’re losing the next generation of family ranchers whose job it is to grow food. The dangerous decline in American agricultural production over the last few decades is accelerated if we allow nonprofit groups to buy up prime Montana ranch land. It’s no wonder we’re seeing such increases in food prices. Our communities are also losing the families who work those ranches. Families fill our schools and require goods and services, creating...

The Myth of the Public Trust Doctrine for Wildlife

September 30, 2022

A new organization, called the Montana Public Trust Coalition, has been created by the same old leftist activists groups who have for years been attacking Montanans’ property rights. Expanding the public trust doctrine to apply to wildlife has been the north star for these activists since the 1970s. If wildlife were to be held in a public trust, all private property rights would be superseded, allowing hunters to trespass without recourse. Two public trust proposals were introduced during the 1972 Constitutional Convention, and both were wisely rejected. Contrary to the claims of some, a public trust doctrine for wildlife is not the law in Montana. We’ve created a fact sheet to knock down the myths of the public trust doctrine. You can download it by clicking here.