The company makes special provisions
Ellig, Tracy.The Magazine of Northwest Montana, winter/spring.Recreation and Wildlife on Private Land.Issues and Opportunities.A Sand County Almanac with Essays on Conservation from Round River.Montana Land Reliance.Montana Land Reliance News.Montana Land Reliance, spring.From Real Estate to Real Solutions.Natural Assets, fall.The Public Benefits of Private Conservation.Environmental Quality, 15th Annual Report of the Council on Environmental Quality.Promoting Public/Private Initiatives for Preservation.Urban Land, November.Wildlife Management in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains.In Wildlife in the Marketplace, ed.Orri Vigfusson Atlantic Salmon FederationLike species in the wild, entrepreneurs require a special environment that allows them to thrive.From England to South Africa, the demand for amenities is growing as incomes increase.Entrepreneurs have responded by investing in the environment, and the natural world is better off.And Orri Vigfusson, vodka dealer and Atlantic salmon lover, has assisted with the recovery of wild Atlantic salmon stocks by purchasing netting rights from commercial fishermen.The radar of these entrepreneurs is switched on both by environmental ethics and by profits, the latter requiring security of title.Each case offers another experiment with new contracts and new marketing techniques.The examples that follow come from countries sharing a common legal heritage that depends on the rule of law and respects private property rights.In the absence of this legal environment, incentives disappear, and stewardship suffers.Like other assets, the natural environment will only be protected if the people who must invest in it can reap rewards.To the contrary, they, along with many other conservationists in southern Africa, believe that profits are the key to ensuring the survival of both wildlife and its habitat.Their financial picture was not helped by concerns that the 1994 elections in South Africa might result in violence.Game ranching competes effectively with domestic livestock and thus sustains wildlife populations where they would be crowded out by cattle.In Conroy’s view, the variety of production methods and the biological diversity encouraged by the industry is unprecedented anywhere in the world.There are about 50,000 local hunters and 400 professional hunters in the country.In addition, more than 4,000 foreign hunters visit South Africa every year.Approximately $100 million of income is generated each year from game farming by way of fee hunting, live sales of animals, tourism, and sales of venison and other game products.The value of wildlife in the marketplace is indicated by the prices paid for live animals at auctions.Of course, the seventy rhinos brought the highest prices.The rarer black rhinos cannot be hunted, but they bring even higher prices from breeders wanting to establish herds for viewing and for future sale.When the hammer fell on a breeding herd of six black rhinos sold in one lot, the price was $40,000 per animal.At $40,000 each, the rhinos have an excellent chance of being around for a while.Though wildlife ranching is not new to South Africa, the innovative contracting that Conscorp uses to make wildlife pay is.The corporation generally owns only small land parcels, enough to accommodate its lodges.For the rest, Conscorp contracts with surrounding landowners for conservation services.Rather than tying up capital in vast tracts, Conscorp has contracted for access to private lands for game viewing and hunting.The articles state that some purposes of the reserve are, among others, ’to promote and conserve endemic wildlife and habitat within the confines of the area ..’ Above all, the company tries to minimize congestion because ’large numbers of persons on the Reserve are undesirable.’Because Conscorp is catering to tourists who want to enjoy game in the natural African bush, the company strives to keep all development on the reserve ’congruent with the principle of minimal environmental impact and minimal aesthetic impact.’ Road use is strictly limited to those specified in the articles of association.Game drives must avoid residential areas and are coordinated through a radio network, with each member responsible for erecting and maintaining a base station.The company controls the number of game drive vehicles and boats to avoid congestion problems.They can build structures on their property but only with written consent from the company and only after submitting detailed drawing and artists impressions.To maintain the integrity of the reserve, landowners cannot subdivide their properties and cannot undertake other commercial activities such as prospecting or establishing tent villages or caravan parks without agreement from the company.Why would landowners be willing to agree to include their lands in the reserve given all of these restrictions?This compares to nearly $200 to $300 per hectare per year in Conscorp reserves.This explains the landowners’ interest in negotiating contracts with Messrs.Bernstein and Varty.Maintenance of the fence is the responsibility of the company.To ensure the most natural setting and to guarantee free range for the animals, the landowner must ’lift and remove the fences which surround or traverse his land, save where the fence in question is a perimeter fence .Because game is free to move anywhere on the reserve, Conscorp has written a very detailed contract specifying the rules for culling, hunting, and capturing.Before a prospective landowner is admitted into the company, a census of the number and species of game on the property is conducted..’ Any disagreements over numbers are arbitrated by the state wildlife agency known as the parks board, and the board’s decisions are final and binding on all parties.Members are not allowed to introduce any new species to the reserve without prior written consent of the company, but the company may withhold consent only if the species is not indigenous to the region.The company can also introduce species, which then become the property of the company.The agreement allows landowners to ’cull, hunt, or capture game’ provided the activities follow the laws, regulations, and rules of the parks board, and provided the landowner obtains a permit from the company specifying the number of game to be taken.Any member who did not contribute any of a particular species to the collective herd is not entitled ’to hunt, cull, or claim ownership or benefit from the proceeds of any sale of that specie[s] except where a separate agreement is in place.’ Hunting, culling, or capturing [onfeetnation.com/profiles/blogs/building-projections?xg_source=activity must] take place within the landowner’s boundaries.If an injured animal escapes to land controlled by another, ’only the leader of the hunt and one tracker may follow the specie of game in question onto the land of another member in accordance with the rules laid down from time to time.’’