ENVIRONMENT:
How the Indians Did It*

By Terry Anderson

According to the widespread myth, American Indians lived in an exquisite, mystical harmony with nature. According to Hoover fellow Terry L. Anderson, there was nothing mystical about it. Indians lived in harmony with nature because they practiced property rights.

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Terry Anderson, the John and Jean DeNault Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, is the executive director of PERC—the Property and Environment Research Center—a think tank in Bozeman, Montana, that focuses on market solutions to environmental problems. His research helped launch the idea of free market environmentalism and has prompted public debate over the proper role of government in managing natural resources. He is the cochair of Hoover's Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force.