Some who are unfamiliar with the devastating affects caused by the failed federal policies waged on western public lands may wonder why the Eastern States would be interested in their transfer to all willing western states. But states such as Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Arkansas realize that while states east of the continental divide fund education, public safety and other essential government services largely through property taxes, western states struggle to provide these most basic needs because Congress lords the PILT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) over western communities “like some two-bit protection racket,” in the words of U.S. Senator Mike Lee. Just as importantly, they also know that those payments come at the expense of Eastern states who are forced to fund these payments to western states in order to keep them from using their own resources.

These Eastern States also understand that we all want healthy air, water and wildlife; Abundant outdoor recreation opportunities; and safe, vibrant communities. But one-size-fails-all federal management of our public lands is giving us unhealthy air, water, and decimated wildlife; blocked off and destroyed recreation access, and unsafe, economically depressed communities. We need to free the lands from federal bureaucracy so we can tend them more like a healthy, productive garden and less like a stuffy old "hands off, don't touch" museum. With more effective local care, we can restore the balance we need to produce healthy air, water and wildlife; abundant recreation opportunities; & safe, vibrant communities. Who knows western lands the best? Who better to tend the environment in our state than the people who live here and care about our air and water and wildlife the most?