Several national parks have recently been proclaimed  in the Amazon basin, but none is effectively protected. The few, poorly paid, and ill-supervised guards themselves often facilitate illegal logging and hunting for small tips. National parks that exist only on paper are counter-productive: before, the land belonged to someone, forest-dwelling natives or at least colonist-squatters; once the park is established, the land belongs to "the public", ie. no-one in particular. Everyone goes in to take what he can, timber, jaguars for their pelts, rare birds. Very few NGOs even try to protect land. When they do, they fund local NGOs to act for them. Their university-trained, English-speaking staff resides in cities, passing small sums to local guards, who are not supervised. Effective protection is not feasible by such means.

2. Why private ownership is effective in Bolivia

Under Bolivian law, foreigners can freely purchase land. With due care, valid, uncontested legal title can be secured. Ambient conditions in our part of Amazonic Bolivia (NE Beni) preclude successful soya cultivation, so that land prices are low.

Amazonic Bolivia is safe. There are no guerillas or bandits and the narcotics trade is invisible if it exists,  & certainly non-violent .Lands can be effectively protected at low cost. Our experience with local employees is that fair treatment and adequate supervision evoke loyalty to us and to our ecological aims. The younger generation, in any case, is ecologically sensitive.

We own 18,806.9 hectares (= 46,471.8 acres; 188 sq. kilometers; 72.6 sq. miles) in the tropical lowlands of NE Bolivia in the Canton of San Joaquin, Provincia de Mamore’, Departemento of the Beni. Our land includes both virgin forests and open savannah that was always grassland and never de-forested. On part of the grassland we raise cattle without using any feed, pesticides or fertilizers. There is no hunting or logging. Our relations with the local population are excellent, so that we live in a crime-free, stress-free cooperative environment. Interested parties are invited to visit. How to get there, from USA: AA to Viru Viru (VVI) airport of  Santa Cruz de la Sierra Aerosur or Lloyd Aereo Boliviano domestic flight to Trinidad (TDD) Air taxi  (US$ 200/per flight) to the town of San Joaquin., from which we pick up up (From the Weashington DC area , I leave at 7:30PM and arrive on the ranch by noon the next day) To find us on the map:  (Bolivia, north-east, look for the rivers Mamore and Machupo near the Brazil border; we are in between, in part on the shore of the Laguna el Oceano ; or else: (Brazil,  on the far west side of the state of  Rondonia;) Forte Principe da Beira, look into  Bolivia opposite for the two rivers and the Laguna el Oceano] Longitude 64 degrees 40' to 50' (our ranch consists of two separate tracts); Latitude 90.