Abstract
Environmental goods generally and recreational opportunities specifically are income elastic; that is, as income rises, the demand for these goods rises faster. Since World War II, incomes for United States citizens have been rising dramatically, increasing the willingness of Americans to pay more for outdoor opportunities.Total visits to Yellowstone National Park in 1997 were 32 percent higher than in 1986; during the same period, entrance fees rose from $2 to $20 per vehicle.1 Comparing figures from 1960 and 1996, average expenditures per individual, in real terms, more than doubled for fishing and nearly quadrupled for hunting.2 As a result, a growing number of farmers and ranchers in the United States have found that hunters are willing to pay for the opportunity to hunt on their land.3
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Notes
Figures on recreational visits to the park provided by Don Striker, Comptroller of Yellowstone National Park, March 12, 1996.
Figures for 1960 are from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1987 (Washington, DC, 1987), Table 380, 219; figures for 1996 are from U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1996 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (Washington, DC, November 1997), Table 12, 69, and Table 17, 74. Increases are adjusted for CPI increase from 1960 through 1996.
Kenneth E. Solomon, “South Dakota Fee Hunting: More Headaches or More Wildlife Problems on Agricultural Lands,” ed. D. L. Hallett, W. R. Edwards, and G. V. Burger (Bloomington, IN: North Central Section of the Wildlife Society, 1988), 229–38; Jim Robbins, “Ranchers Finding Profit in Wildlife,” NewYork Times, December 13, 1987; James P. Sterba, “Plight of the Pheasant Frames the Debate Over Hunting’s Future,” Wall Street Journal, February 1, 1999.
Terry L. Anderson, “To Fee or Not to Fee: The Economics of Below-Cost Recreation,” in Multiple Conflicts Over Multiple Uses, ed. Terry L. Anderson (Bozeman, MT: Political Economy Research Center, 1994), 4.
President’s Commission on American Outdoors. American Outdoors: The Legacy,The Challenge (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1987), xi.
Terry L. Anderson, “Camped Out in Another Era,” Wall Street Journal, January 14, 1987.
Lonnie L. Williamson, “Wildlife Superbill Reintroduced,” Outdoor News Bulletin, January 29, 1999.
Traci Watson, “Clinton Pushes Preservation Plan,” USAToday, January 12, 1999; Haya El Nasser, “Gore Veers From Past Growth Policy,” USA Today, January 12, 1999.
Randall G. Holcombe, professor of economics at Florida State University, takes exception to this argument. He notes that “developed areas in the United States, excluding Alaska, are only 6.2 percent of the nation’s total land area,” far less pervasive than the federal government, which is the nation’s largest landowner. See “Urban Sprawl: Pro and Con,” PERC Reports 17(1) (Bozeman, MT: Political Economy Research Center, February 1999): 3–5.
Task Force on Recreation on Private Lands, Recreation on Private Lands: Issues and Opportunities (proceedings from a workshop sponsored by the President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors, Washington, DC, March 10, 1986), 1.
Scott McMillion, “Gallatin Forest Is A Gift To Community That Costs Taxpayers,” Bozeman Daily Chronicle, August 31, 1997.
Donald Woutat, “Stakes Are High in the Battle Over Exploration in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge,” Bozeman Daily Chronicle, November 5, 1987.
Victor H. Ashe, “Needs and Opportunities for Outdoor Recreation,” in Transactions of the Fifty-first North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, ed. Richard E. McCabe (Washington, DC: Wildlife Management Institute, 1986), 14.
Harold Demsetz, “Toward a Theory of Property Rights,” American Economic Review 57 (May 1967): 348.
For a more complete discussion of wildlife contracting problems, see Dean Lueck, “The Economic Organization of Wildlife Institutions,” in Wildlife in the Marketplace, ed. Terry L. Anderson and Peter J. Hill (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1995).
Urs P. Kreuter and Randy T. Simmons, “Economics, Politics and Controversy Over African Elephant Conservation,” in Elephants and Whales: Resources for Whom? ed. Milton M. R. Freeman and Urs P. Kreuter (Switzerland: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 1994), 39–57.
“As the Cattle Business Weakens, Ranchers Turn Their Land Over to Recreational Use,” Wall Street Journal, August 27, 1985, 33.
Tom Blood and John Baden, “Wildlife Habitat and Economic Institutions: Feast or Famine for Hunters and Game,” Western Wildlands 10 (spring 1984): 13.
Holly Lippke Fretwell, Public Lands: The Price We Pay, Public Lands Report No. 1 (Bozeman, MT: Political Economy Research Center, 1998), 6, 9, 12, and 17.
President’s Council on Environmental Quality, 15th Annual Report of the Council on Environmental Quality (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984), 426.
Letter from Richard A. Boitnott, Manager–Wildlife Ecology, International Paper Company, mid-South Region, Shreveport, Louisiana, March 8, 1994.
Data obtained from a 1998 brochure entitled North MaineWoods. Write: P.O. Box 421, Ashland, Maine 04732.
John S. Baen, “The Growing Importance and Value Implications of Recreational Hunting Leases to Agricultural Land Investors in America,” presented at the American Real Estate Society meeting in Sarasota, Florida,April 16–19, 1997. A copy of the study is available from John S. Baen, Associate Professor of Real Estate, College of Business Administration, Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Law, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas.
Don Causey, ed., “Found! A Season-Long Deer Hunt For Only $700!” U.S. Hunting Report ( June 1997): 1.
Aldo Leopold, “Game and Wild Life Conservation [1932],” in The River of the Mother of God and Other Essays by Aldo Leopold, ed. Susan L. Flader and J. Baird Callicott (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), 166.
Gordon Abbott, Jr., “Long-Term Management: Problems and Opportunities,” in Private Options:Tools and Concepts for Land Conservation, ed. Barbara Rusmore,Alexandra Swaney, and Allan D. Spader (Covello, CA.: Island Press, 1982), 207.
Sue E. Dodge, ed., The Nature Conservancy Magazine 40 (March–April 1990): 3, 33.
For details on this program, see Holly Lippke Fretwell, “Paying To Play: The Fee Demonstration Program,” PERC Policy Series No. PS-17 (Bozeman, MT: Political Economy Research Center, December 1999).
James B. Coffin, “Clinton Administration Again Recommends Permanent Fee Demo,” Federal Parks & Recreation, February 25, 2000, 8.
Michael Milstein, “GAO Report Praises Park Fee System,” Billings [Montana] Gazette, February 16, 1999.
Don Causey, “This State’s Landowner Program A Real Winner,” U.S. Hunting Report ( June 1998): 8–10.
For data on the impact of farm programs on duck habitat, see Daniel K. Benjamin, Kurtis J. Swope, and Terry L. Anderson, “Bucks for Ducks or Money for Nothin’? The Political Economy of the Federal Duck Stamp Program,” in Political Environmentalism: Going Behind the Green Curtain, ed. Terry L. Anderson (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2000).
Helena AP, “FWP Commission rejects Ruby River closure request,” Bozeman Daily Chronicle, February 5, 1999.
See, for example, Montana Wildlife Federation, “Public Ownership of Wildlife & the Threat of Privatization,” Helena, Montana, February 22, 1999.
Donald R. Leal and J. Bishop Grewell, Hunting for Habitat: A Practical Guide to State-Landowner Partnerships (Bozeman, MT: Political Economy Research Center, 1999).
Eric Wiltse, “Irrigation Spells Death for Hundreds of Ruby River Trout,” Bozeman Daily Chronicle, May 12, 1987.
Terry L. Anderson and Donald R. Leal, “A Private Fix for Leaky Trout Streams,” Fly Fisherman 19 ( June 1988): 28–31.
Dayton O. Hyde, “Recreation and Wildlife on Private Lands,” in Recreation on Private Lands, published by the Task Force on Recreation on Private Lands. Proceedings of a workshop held in Washington, DC, March 10, 1986, 25.
Richard L. Stroup, “The Economics of Compensating Property Owners,” Contemporary Economic Policy 15 (1997): 55–65.
Dean Lueck and Jeffrey Michael, “Preemptive Habitat Destruction Under the Endangered Species Act,” unpublished manuscript, Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. Also see Dean Lueck, “The Law and Politics of Federal Wildlife Preservation,” in Political Environmentalism: Going Behind the Green Curtain, ed. Terry L. Anderson (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2000).
Terry L. Anderson, Vernon L. Smith, and Emily Simmons, “How and Why to Privatize Federal Lands,” Cato Policy Analysis 363, December 9, 1999.
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© 2001 Terry L. Anderson and Donald R. Leal
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Anderson, T.L., Leal, D.R. (2001). Inside Our Outdoor Policy. In: Free Market Environmentalism. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780312299736_6
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