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In-Depth Information
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- “Planning
- Good or Bad” - Book Review by Nathaniel R. Dickinson
(Property Rights Foundation of America®, April 2008)
The Best-Laid Plans, How Government Planning Harms Your Quality
of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future, By Randal O’Toole
(Cato Institute, 2007)
In this surprising review of a popular conservative title,
rather than focus on the issues of land use planning, urban renewal,
smart growth and the like, where the author explores the need
to reduce government’s excessive control over people
and the diminishment of their freedom, our reviewer analyzes
the author’s approach to planning with respect to
wildlife issues, where more, rather than less, planning is needed.
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- “The
Dangerous Craze of Environmental Irrationality” - Book
Review by Nathaniel R. Dickinson (PRFA, Mar. 27, 2007)
Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism is Hazardous to Your Health,
By John Berlau, (Nelson Current, 2006)
The Greens constantly play on the emotions of gullible people
to promote their agenda. But the thing to fear is not human activity,
but the focus by the Greens on restoring the planet to untrammeled
nature, a focus whereby they obstruct worthwhile and life-saving
progress.
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- “Warriors
for Our Time” - Book review by
Nathaniel R. Dickinson, Property Rights Foundation of America,
March 2007
Review of Warriors for the West by William Perry Pendley
(Regnery Publishing, Inc. 2006)
Perry Pendley, president and chief legal officer of Mountain
States Legal Foundation, chronicles the heroic battles of westerners
for freedom and land rights in the face of bureaucrats, environmental
groups and judges who are destroying the rights to land, the
viability of local communities, and freedom itself.
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- “Wild
Cities, Suburb Zoos and Rural Outrages—Reflections on My
Career in Wildlife Management”-By Nathaniel R. Dickinson,
Wildlife Biologist, Tenth Annual National Conference on Private
Property Rights (PRFA, Albany, N.Y., October 14, 2006)
To understand the today’s alarming increase in
the conflict between different species of wildlife and man, Nate
Dickinson recalls his successful effort to restore wildlife management
in New York State to the legal mandate to maintain deer in balance
with natural food supplies, to create conditions where man and
nature can thrive in harmony. To prevent conflicts, there are
places where wildlife should not be.
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- “Inalienable
Private Property Rights Being Revoked” - Book Review
by Nathaniel R. Dickinson, PRFA, October 17, 2006)
During the Twentieth Century, private property rights, the
cornerstone of freedom, were greatly diminished in exchange for
government power under environmental law, regulatory takings,
rent control, scenic regulations, historic preservation, architectural
review, and eminent domain abuse. The radical left is winning.
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- “The
Truth About Environmentalism” - Book Review by Nathaniel
R. Dickinson, PRFA, August 2006
The Green Wave — Environmentalism and Its Consequences,
by Bonner Cohen, Capitol Research Center, 2006
Environmentalists have a stranglehold and, if things continue
the way they are going, they will prevail and destroy traditional
society.
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- “Wild Cities,
Suburb Zoos, and Rural Atrocities” - By Nathaniel R.
Dickinson (PRFA, July 2006)
Instead of choosing wildlife policies on the basis of their
emotional appeal, management agencies should adopt scientifically
sound policies to deal with the frequent and severe conflicts
between wildlife and humans.
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- “Fact,
Fiction, and Opinion” - Book Review by Nathaniel R.
Dickinson (PRFA, July 2006)
The Essential Grizzly by Doug and Andrea Peacock (Lyons
Press, 2006)
Presumptions cripple this book on grizzlies. A blend of facts
and fiction, politics and advocacy, this compendium of essays
on grizzlies and the authors’ opinions on their importance
to man wastes an opportunity to compile reams of knowledge into
a credible work.
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- “Out-foxing
the Foxes” - By Nathaniel R. Dickinson (PRFA, May 4,
2006)
A “rather universal human tolerance for the wild
kingdom, fueled by the radical environmental movement,”
has generated such unwelcome neighbors as foxes in Britain’s
cities, aggressive bear in New Jersey suburbs, and uncontrolled
deer populations causing millions of damage to agricultural crops
and motor vehicles, including human fatalities.
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- “Misconceptions
Make this Book Beastly” - Book Review by
Nathaniel R. Dickinson, (PRFA, April 11, 2006)
The Beast in the Garden, David Baron, W. W. Norton and
Company, 2004
Killings of human beings by cougars in areas near built-up
suburbs have led Baron to advocate for action by public agencies
and private groups to preserve more open space, rather than identify
problems and needs. In addition to accounts of encounters with
cougars, Baron’s writing includes a hodgepodge ranging
from a study of deep-seated fear of cats to discourses on multiculturalism,
feminism, environmentalism and Native Americanism. The strict
preservationist stance displays a lack of appreciation of the
natural world.
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- “An
Honest, Objective Critique of the Endangered Act” -
By Nathaniel R. Dickinson (PRFA, March 29, 2005)
This analysis of some of the most important language of the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, such as the discussion of “critical
habitat” and the definition of “endangered
species,” demonstrates that it needs a major overhaul.
Well-educated, totally objective scientists should be called
in to re-write the Act and guide its implementation.
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- “Commentary
on Uncontrolled White-tailed Deer Populations” - By
Nate Dickinson (PRFA, January 6, 2005)
Deer-vehicle accidents with substantial human fatalities and
rampant destruction of plants, gardens, and forest regeneration
are the natural result of policies in opposition to sound, scientific
management when Nate Dickinson was Big Game Leader for New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation.
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- “The
Rampant Injustice of Eminent Domain” - By Nate Dickinson
(PRFA, November 14, 2004)
Review of Abuse of Power—How the Government Misuses Eminent
Domain by Steven Greenhut (Seven Locks Press 2004)
Master planners are using “blight”
declarations and urban redevelopment to sack neighborhoods in
a nationwide nightmare of eminent domain. People are fighting
back to protect their private property rights.
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- “Yes, Our
President Has a Clear Mandate and the Will of the People Must
Be Heeded” - By Nate Dickinson (PRFA, November 10, 2004)
The election of 2004 gives President George W. Bush the opportunity
to correct the Administration’s neglect of so-called
environmental matters. Issues such as endangered species, wise
use of the National Forests, and oil drilling need to be tackled
with intelligence. The influence of radical environmental groups
must be challenged and diminished.
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- “The
President Exhibits Character on Earth Day” - By Nathaniel
R. Dickinson (PRFA, April 23, 2004)
Earth Day has its roots in the scare-mongering of pseudo-science.
The environmental movement is spearheaded by numerous well-heeled,
ultra-liberal groups whose concern for the natural world is somewhere
out in the wings.
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- “A Professional
and Intellectual Journey” - Book Review by Nate Dickinson
(PRFA, April 13, 2004)
A review of Give Me a Break — How I Exposed Hucksters,
Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal
Media by John Stossel, Harper Collins, 2004
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- “Could It Be That
the Hudson Valley Heritage Plan is Actually Anti-Heritage?”
- By Nate Dickinson (PRFA, March 2, 2004)
A review of the “Hudson River Valley National
Heritage Area Management Plan.” The National Park
Service and its cadre of allied agencies and not-profit organizations
lay the groundworks for a four million acre kingdom of eleven
counties in the Hudson Valley, where resource protection and
land management policies are to be coordinated in a viable regional
plan.
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- “Are
People Still Contributing to The Nature Conservancy?”
- By Nate Dickinson (PRFA, February 25, 2004)
After reports in the Washington Post about The Nature Conservancy’s
questionable financial practices, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee
headed by Sen. Charles Grassley recently investigated widespread
accounting problems, violations of the Internal Revenue Service
regulations, and conflicts of interest including selling scenic
properties to trustees who reaped large tax breaks.
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- “Foul
Ball - My Life and Hard Times Trying to Save an Old Ballpark”
- by Jim Bouton (Bulldog Publishing 2003), Reviewed by Nathaniel
R. Dickinson (PRFA, February 6, 2004)
The great New York Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton led a battle
to save treasured Wahconah Park, in Pittsfield, Mass., one of
the oldest in America, having hosted professional baseball since
1892. Bouton narrates how he brought the community together against
a new government-financed stadium, battling the City Council,
which could wield eminent domain. Dickinson draws a parallel
to the Nets stadium proposed for Brooklyn, N.Y.
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- “A
Novice’s Reaction to a Smart Growth Discussion”
- By Nate Dickinson, Wildlife Biologist (PRFA, December 12, 2003
Review of “Outsmarting Smart Growth - Population
Growth, Immigration, and the Problem of Sprawl” by
Beck, Kolankiewicz, and Camarota (Center for Immigration Studies,
2003). Dickinson questions the assumptions underlying the report,
and asks whether planners are interested in changing the complexion
of a free society. Statistics for agricultural acreage show that
the U.S. A. is getting wilder, contrary to the report’s
drift. He states that the report’s immigration statistics
prove the need to rethink immigration policy. Illegal immigration
must be simply halted.
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- “An
Unexpected Visit from The Nature Conservancy” - By Nate
Dickinson (PRFA, October 21, 2003)
A solicitation letter from TNC tugs at the heartstrings, but
relies on the “emotional, gullible segments of society”
to believe that they are “saving the last great places
on Earth.”
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- “Another
Intrusive Tool for the APA” - By Nate Dickinson (PRFA,
October 17, 2003)
In addition to legislation in the U.S. Senate, recent years
have brought bureaucratic involvement with invasive species by
the Adirondack Park Agency, which has begun implementing the
non-regulatory “Adirondack Park Roadside Invasives
Control Initiative.”
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- “Beware
the Intrusive Invasive Species Act” - By Nate Dickinson
(PRFA, September 5, 2003)
A wildlife biologist’s common sense discussion
of S.525, the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 2003,
warning that the bill provides more for expansive regulatory
bureaucracy than for the practical protection from invasive species.
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- “It’s
Not Just Big Brother That Often Disrespects Property Rights”
— Commentary by Nate Dickinson (PRFA, February 21, 2003)
An older woman would like to build a ranch-style home on her
property in Altamont, N. Y., so that she will not have to climb
stairs and will have her daughter living next door in the existing
house. But angry neighbors “mobbed” the
town hall to protest this perfectly reasonable plan.
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- “Maine Is
Not Alone in Experiencing Rural Cleansing” - by Nate
Dickinson, Wildlife Biologist (PRFA, November 2002)
A review of Professor Jon Reisman’s speech “Rural
Cleansing in Maine,” which was delivered at the Sixth
Annual New York Conference on Private Property Rights.
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- “Has The
Nature Conservancy Run Amok?” — By Nate Dickinson
(PRFA, October 2002)
Wildlife biologist Nate Dickinson tackles bad science, deception,
and play on emotions used by the most heavily endowed of the
environmental organizations, which is “entering the
ranks of the most successful real estate brokers.”
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- “Is
the Sierra Club Believable?” — By Nate Dickinson,
Wildlife Biologist (PRFA, September 21, 2002)
The Sierra Club’s radical fund-raising letter
misaccuses commercial logging of creating desolate moonscapes.
On the other hand, the club fails to note the pivotal role that
extreme wilderness policies played in the intensity of recent
forest fires.The law established National Forests in 1890 to
guarantee a future supply of timber, not to provide wilderness
areas for the enjoyment of Sierra Clubbers.
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- “Beware
of Those Noxious Wildlife Corridors” - By Nate Dickinson,
Wildlife Biologist (PRFA, Aug. 16, 2002)
Americans should wake up to the threat to traditional American
values posed by the pseudo-science of the Wildlands Project,
which is being used to advocate federal ownership of land between
“core” areas such as the Okefenokee and
Osceola National Forests in Florida.
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- “An
Innovative Approach to Natural Area Restoration” —
by Nate Dickinson, Wildlife Biologist (PRFA, July 22, 2002)
Nate Dickinson’s insights about Michael Shaw’s
restoration of native species on his coastal California property.
Instead of relying on herbicides, burning, or grazing to eliminate
exotic plants, Mr. Shaw used scientifically directed human energy
to release the native seedbank, working past successive invasions
of other unwanted plants toward bountiful results.
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- “Algonquin
to Adirondack Vision is Blurred” - by Nate Dickinson,
author and wildlife biologist (PRFA, February 2001)
Environmentalists envision a land bridge called the “Frontenac
Axis” from Algonquin Provincial Park in Quebec to
the Adirondack Park. They want to create a swath of undeveloped
land for a right of way for migrating wolves to enter the Adirondacks
from Quebec and for all wildlife to have a natural “corridor”
to migrate freely without interference by people.
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- “Maybe
Someone Should Spend More Time Consulting the Grizzly”
- By Nate Dickinson, Wildlife Biologist, Altamont, N.Y. 1994
Grizzlies are much more tolerant of human interaction than
environmentalists allege. Furthermore, they range across a great
reserve of parks in western Canada, where they are fully protected.
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Nate
Dickinson, wildlife biologist, is widely known as the author
of Common Sense Wildlife Management, which has been reprinted
in Spanish in Mexico and received wide distribution there. He
is also the author of numerous technical papers and popular articles.
He was an Associate Editor of New York Fish and Game Journal.
With his Bachelors of Arts Degree from Amherst College and Master
of Science in Wildlife Management from Cornell, and two years
of service in the U.S. Army as a cryptographer, he accepted his
first wildlife position with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries
and Game, then spent ten years with the New York State Conservation
Department focusing on deer habitat management and a range of
wildlife species. He was one of two Deer Project leaders for
the Vermont Department of Fisheries and Wildlife before returning
to New York to become Big Game Unit Leader for the Department
of Environmental Conservation, where he served until retirement.
He continued to write on wildlife issues and has served for many
years on the National Advisory Board of the Property Rights Foundation
of America. In 2002 he received PRFA’s Fifth Annual New
York State Private Property Rights Advocate Award in “recognition
of his defense of constitutionally guaranteed private property
rights in the State of New York.
