The Bush administration has agreed to hold off selling some national forest lands and will support one more year of payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging, lawmakers said Monday.
Western lawmakers have been seeking up to $401 million to maintain payments next year to 700 rural counties in 41 states, primarily in the West, which lost revenues from the sale of federal timber when logging was cut back to protect the northern spotted owl, salmon and other fish and wildlife.
The administration had proposed selling 300,000 acres of national forest lands around the country to raise $800 million toward continuing the payments over five years, but it had run into tough bipartisan opposition.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, agreed in a letter to support a one-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, which has pumped $2 billion into counties the past six years and is set to expire at the end of September.
Rey also acknowledged that time is running out for Congress to act on the administration's proposal to sell the isolated parcels of national forests.
"By doing a one-year extension, it makes it possible for the program to continue," said Rey spokesman Dan Jiron. "At the same time we are really looking forward to working with members of Congress on the long-term extension with offsets appropriate to our efforts for secure rural schools."
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the deal came after he agreed to stop blocking five Bush administration appointments to the departments of Agriculture and Interior.
"This is a year's worth of good news for hard-hit rural communities and all Americans who know it makes no sense to sell off your natural treasures," Wyden said.
While Wyden said he wanted a long-term solution that maintains help for rural counties that are unlikely to see a resumption of extensive logging on national forests, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said he considered the payments a transition until national forests produce more timber.
"I wish our forest industries were healthy enough that we never needed a county payment program," Smith said in a statement. "But the fact is that we do need one, and while I'd prefer a long-term solution, we have to make sure our communities can get by in the here and now."
To make the deal announced Monday actually work, the two senators have to find other cuts in the budget that Congress has been working on.
Counties containing national forests have long received a share of federal timber revenues as a substitute for property taxes.
At least 10 counties in Oregon depend on federal payments for more than 40 percent of their budgets, according to the Association of Oregon Counties. Three counties - Curry, Douglas and Grant - receive more than 60 percent of their revenue through the county payments law.
Jackson County, Ore., has said it must close its libraries if the money does not come through.
In fiscal 2005, the Forest Service said it paid Oregon counties $159.9 million, California $67.3 million, Washington $45.9 million and Idaho $23.6 million. Oregon received an extra $119.7 from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said Wyden spokesman Geoff Stuckart.Associated Press via The Olympian
