Environmental Protection through Private Action

By Jonathan Adler

            Over 100,000 bison roam the western plains today.  Bison, also known as buffalo, populate ranches, parks, and wilderness areas throughout Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and other states, including Yellowstone National Park.  But it was not always this way.

            Around the turn of the century, there were only 25 bison in Yellowstone, as open-access poaching nearly wiped out the entire herd. Fortunately, private individuals like William Hornaday, founder of the American Bison Association, ensured that the majestic buffalo survived.  Hornaday, and others like him, saw to it that bison were bred, fed and protected from hunters.  Thus, while bison were dwindling in Yellowstone, they were prospering on private lands – so much so that the herds in Yellowstone today are mostly descended from private herds.  Nationwide, over 90 percent live on private land.

            The recovery of the American bison is a testament to the power of private conservation.  Were it not for the care that private owners had for the bison, it is possible that the symbol of the Interior Department and the Buffalo Bills would be a memory on American soil.

            Bison were threatened by what ecologist Garrett Hardin termed the “tragedy of the commons.”  Because bison were unowned – they lived in an open-access commons – they were unprotected.  Owners protect their resources because they receive the benefits of that protection.  In the commons, however, there is no incentive to protect a resource because you cannot be sure that you will receive the benefit.  A hunter that foregoes shooting a buffalo in the commons today in the hope that there will be more buffalo in a year has no guarantee that other hunters will show the same foresight.

Unlike the commons, ownership encourages stewardship. As Hardin noted, the tragedy of the commons “is averted by private property, or something formally like it.” If you own something, you have an interest in ensuring that it is protected and that its value is maintained, if not increased.  Thus oyster fishers in Willapa Bay, Washington, are fierce protectors of local water quality because their livelihoods – their oyster beds – are at stake.  They also invest in local ecological restoration and protection to ensure that they have oysters in the future.  It is no wonder that many people consider Willapa Bay oysters as the best around.

Not only must landowners take care in their own actions, in many cases they must defend their land against the intrusions of others.  In the United States, this is typically done through the enforcement of environmental regulations.  In parts of Canada and the United Kingdom, however, water quality is protected through common law protections of private property.  The English Anglers Cooperative Association defends fishing rights by suing upstream polluters that damage fish stocks.  The basis of the litigation is not failure to comply with an arcane permitting requirement, but the simple fact that upstream pollution hurts downstream fish.  Salmon in Scotland and New Brunswick are often protected in the same way.

            Landowners have a strong incentive to maintain the value of their land for themselves – as well as for others.  Even if I don’t mind living in a run-down home, as a homeowner I have a strong incentive to keep it well-maintained so that its resale value does not fall.  (This is why owners tend to treat their homes better than renters or temporary tenants do.)

            There are more trees in America’s forests today than at any other point in this century, largely because of the incentives private ownership provides.  For every tree that forest owners or timber companies cut down, several more are planted.  Of course some of this planting does occur on tree farms, but the planting of trees for future use relieves economic pressures to chop down old-growth forests or trees in wilderness areas. 

Timber companies replant on their own land (as opposed to the national forests) not because they want to be “environmentally correct” but because it often makes sound business sense.  Planting trees can be a good economic investment, and can help companies in other ways as well.  Some forest owners have discovered that at relatively little cost, forests can be managed for camping, hiking, bird-watching and recreation.  It also makes sense for companies to respond to local environmental concerns – whether about run-off or the aesthetics of rectangular clearcuts – for companies can be sure that as owners they will be held responsible for how they treat the land.

            Of course, private stewardship does not require that one always act in pursuit of profit.  The principle of private ownership enables conservation groups and other landowners to purchase and protect vital habitat and empowers stewards to take those actions that are necessary to preserve vital resources.  It has also allowed individuals such as David Bamberger, former CEO of Church’s Fried Chicken, to protect foreign species on the verge of extinction. Bamberger and the other members of the Exotic Wildlife Association own more scimitar-horned oryx on their private lands in the U.S. than exist in its native African range.

Consider also the case of Hawk Mountain.  The Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is a 2,000-acre wildlife refuge located in eastern Pennsylvania along the Appalachian Mountains. It was founded in 1934 by a Mrs. Rosalie Edge, a conservationist concerned about the local slaughter of migrating hawks and other raptors.  While the government was paying bounties on certain birds of prey and national conservation groups were focused on other causes, Mrs. Edge was raising money to purchase the land and protect these birds from decline.  Because she owned Hawk Mountain, Mrs. Edge was capable of protecting the birds she cared about.  Today, Mrs. Edge’s legacy is one of the most important raptor research cites in the country.

“Private ownership includes not only hunting preserves, commercial bird breeders, parrot jungles, and safari parks, it also includes wildlife sanctuaries, Audubon Society refuges, World Wildlife Fund preserves, and a multitude of private, non-profit conservation projects,” observes Robert J. Smith, senior scholar with the Center for Private Conservation and a lifelong conservationist.  This is the principle that motivated the founders of America’s great conservation organizations – the groups whose purpose was once to identify, purchase and protect vital habitat for imperiled species to ensure their survival.  The first game warden killed in the line of duty was not employed by the federal government, but by a private conservation group.

America’s environmental movement was founded on the idea that private conservation was the key to protecting wildlife and natural resources for our selves and our future.  Environmental groups were founded to purchase and protect habitat directly.  Since then, many groups have strayed off course, stressing political solutions to environmental problems.  This produced mixed results, leading to a rediscovery of the importance of private ownership in environmental protection.  With a greater reliance on private property, America’s proud conservation tradition can be reborn.