PUBLIC LAND LAW REVIEW COMMISSION 615

the citizens of Florida, Connecticut, and Minnesota have a stake in
the public domain in Colorado, Montana, and Alaska.

The conclusions reached by this Commission, and your recommen-
dations to Congress, will affect the citizens of Maryland.

More and more people are turning to the out-of-doors in pursuit
of leisure. Since World War II, the increase of camping, hunting,
and boating enthusiasts has been tremendous. Unfortunately, so min-
ute an amount of wilderness area remains east of the Mississippi River
that many residents of the eastern United States must travel west to
enjoy a genuine wilderness experience. Private entrepreneurs cannot
afford to acquire and maintain the vast stretches of land necessary to
provide this quality outdoor experience. The demands can only be
met by public lands, and each year many Maryland citizens do enjoy
the public lands in the West.

Obviously, the disposal of public lands is a matter of deep concern
to me for it could adversely affect the citizens of Maryland. A rancher
holding a grazing permit on public land could be harmed if his
grazing privileges are cancelled and the public land disposed of and
improved. And the Maryland citizen could be harmed if he found
himself paying higher taxes to offset the loss of grazing fee revenues
which once flowed into the Federal treasury.

I am vitally concerned about the ever-increasing tax burden our
citizens are forced to bear. I can foresee no reduction in the public
services government is expected to provide, and I cannot predict a
reduction in the overall cost of government. The revenue going into
the Federal treasury from the public domain would be drastically
affected were the public lands disposed of en masse.

On the other hand, Maryland's State government and Maryland's
citizens recognize the problems presented by the public domain. We
are sensitive to these problems and wish to be fair. Many of our
western cities are precluded from expanding because they are locked
in by the public domain. It may sometimes be in the best public in-
terest for the Federal government to selectively dispose of certain
lands to permit their development for needed commercial and resi-
dential services.

Other factors in the disposition and regulation of public lands
affect each of us as American citizens today; and the implications of
your decisions may well affect unborn generations of Americans in
the future.