With mountains, woodlands, sparkling streams and rolling rivers, East Tennessee is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

It is also full of history, dating back thousands of years to the time when native Americans were the only inhabitants of the area. Natural treasures like the Ocoee River, The Conasauga River, the Hiwassee River, the Obed Wild and Scenic River, the Sequatchie River and the mighty Tennessee River are worthy of our attention and stewardship.

As a member of the Interior Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, I am doing everything I can to protect, preserve and improve all of our natural assets, not just in the Tennessee Valley but clear across the United States.

Few people realize that approximately one-third of the land in this country is owned by the federal government and that we now have a $14 billion backlog of maintenance needs. That’s $14 billion of requirements that have accumulated on these public lands over time, and the problem is getting worse, not better.

But a small group of Congressmen are working together in a bipartisan way to come up with innovative ways to increase revenue for the natural resources, such as recreational fee demonstration programs that my subcommittee has

implemented through the National Parks and the U.S. Forest Service. This program is receiving very favorable reviews because all the money raised goes to the national park or national forest where it is collected and is directly meeting the needs that exist from the Grand Canyon to Yosemite, Yellowstone or other areas of the country.

I have visited dozens of national parks, forests and rivers to see first hand their strengths and shortcomings and develop ways to preserve these resources so that everyone can enjoy them.

President Teddy Roosevelt would be very proud of the work that chairman Ralph Regula, senior Democratic Interior Subcommittee member Norm Dicks and I are doing together to increase funding for parks, forests, rivers, the National Wildlife Refuges, the Florida Everglades, endangered species and the habitats.

God Almighty created this glorious Earth, and He expects us to be good stewards of all that He has given us.

In the six years I have been in Congress, I have worked hard to be a good steward of our precious natural resources. I have tried to hold to the Cherokee tradition of making policy decisions that will benefit the next seven generations.