As someone who loves to spend weekends in the outdoors hiking, hunting, and fishing, moving to Texas really highlighted the importance of keeping these lands public. As the article mentions, Texas sold nearly all of the federal land it was granted and as a result is currently about 95% privately-owned.
For most hunters, this means that you either have to lease private land, which is becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive (think thousands of dollars annually), or hire an outfitter for exorbitant fees. This has priced many people out of hunting and will continue to do so as populations and land development continue to rise. I, personally, have been looking for a hunting lease within a couple hours drive of Austin for the past three years and have not been able to find one - and that's with a budget of over $3k/year.
Without transfer protections that mandate keeping the land public and accessible perpetually, I don't know how any outdoorsman could be for this "transfer".
For most hunters, this means that you either have to lease private land, which is becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive (think thousands of dollars annually), or hire an outfitter for exorbitant fees. This has priced many people out of hunting and will continue to do so as populations and land development continue to rise. I, personally, have been looking for a hunting lease within a couple hours drive of Austin for the past three years and have not been able to find one - and that's with a budget of over $3k/year.
Without transfer protections that mandate keeping the land public and accessible perpetually, I don't know how any outdoorsman could be for this "transfer".