Bozeman is remarkable for its many nonprofits devoted to environmental issues. Some, such as the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, are focused on land, water, and trails. Others are devoted to types of animals or fish, for example the Predator Conservation Alliance. In addition, several national organizations have local offices here.

Each of these organizations is motivated by ecological sensitivity. Some are well established, while others, like the hatches in our famous trout waters, are ephemeral. While they vary greatly in their budgets and effectiveness, I doubt that any of their articulated goals are insincere. Bozeman would be a lesser place without them.

Bozeman is unique in also spawning two organizations sharing the goal of harmonizing responsible liberty with environmental quality. They are PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center, and FREE, the Foundation for Economics and the Environment. This year PERC is celebrating its 30th anniversary and FREE its 25th.

Both groups originated from an MSU institute I led in the late 1970s. Political pressures resulting from work in exposing such boondoggles as ethanol from wheat, subsidized loans, and destructive, inefficient management by federal agencies led to its elimination.

Fortunately, sound ideas are powerful forces; they have captured the intellectual high ground. Today only special interests defend the Progressive Era’s approach to centralized management and control of our environment.

Attentive and well informed people now understand that large bureaucracies are best when they monitor and protect, not manage. Sylvan, energy, and aquatic socialism work no better than others forms of political management. Government is essential for protection of public goods, including clean air, water, and wildlife, but not for the production of commodities. PERC studies show how wildlife is often most creatively and effectively managed by nongovernmental organizations and by market processes.

PERC and FREE stress the contributions of entrepreneurship, property rights, and the market process to conservation and environmental goals. As its website notes, “PERC—the Property and Environment Research Center—is the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to improving environmental quality through markets and property rights.”

Both organizations stress the importance of institutional arrangements to environmental quality and sustainability. The reason is clear; institutions generate information and incentives to act upon that information. If something of value is too cheap or even free to the user, it will be over consumed. The problems of grass on the open range or animals available without limit to market hunters are examples that led to institutional reforms early in the last century.

PERC explores contemporary problems and advocates solutions. It notes, “Private individuals are powerful agents of change. They can restore healthy forests, clean contaminated land, and reduce energy consumption if they have the right incentive.”

Of the two groups, PERC is by far the larger in scope and in public participation, occasionally hosting large events. On June 25th it will celebrate its 30th with a public talk by ecologist and former Economist editor, Matt Ridley, author of the new book The Rational Optimist.

FREE, in contrast, operates as a boutique organization. It produces small programs bringing an economic perspective on many issues involving community and national life to federal judges, state supreme court judges, law professors, and more recently seminary professors and other religious leaders. Many nationally distinguished scholars have frequently participated in the programs of both organizations. For instance, Nobel Laureate Tom Schelling is returning to FREE programs this summer for the 12th time.

I’m proud that several of the individuals I hired at PERC nearly 30 years ago are key people there today. There is no substitute for quality. I’m especially pleased that as FREE has changed its emphasis toward applying economic principles to religion and culture, Pete Geddes has found a new home in the environmental policy world. Pete is leaving FREE after 14-plus years to become PERC’s Director of Development. While he will be sorely missed at FREE, Greens of every shade should celebrate his staying with environmental policy.