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Forest lands may be on the block
By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian
National forest land may be sold off to fund a federal program designed to help counties and school districts make up for the loss of money they previously received from federal timber sales.
The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act was signed into law by then-President Clinton in 2000. The law, initially carried by a Democrat and Republican from Oregon, was passed to help counties that previously received significant revenues from timber sales on federal lands.
Historically, the U.S. Forest Service paid 25 percent of forest-product revenues produced in the counties. But as federal timber sales declined and those revenues decreased dramatically, Congress looked for a way to make up for money the counties had come to depend on but were no longer receiving.
That safety net was the Secure Rural Schools program, which has paid out about
$1.2 billion since it was authorized six years ago, mostly to rural counties in the West.
The Bush administration's budget for the Forest Service, released Monday, would fund the program for five more years with money made by selling isolated parcels of federal land.
“We've been asked to look at our inventory of land, and all the regions have been asked to do this,” said Paula Nelson, spokeswoman for the agency's Northern Region office in Missoula. “We have a database of isolated parcels on the forest, so we're having the lands staff go over that now.”
Nelson said the regions are supposed to identify possible properties that could be sold by the end of the week.
Mark Rey, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Monday that the Forest Service probably has about 350,000 acres of land that qualify for the sale. About half that land would need to be sold over the next five years to produce the $800 million needed to fund the schools program.
Rey said the lands range from parcels as small as an acre to pieces of property of several hundred acres. Nelson said those sorts of properties could have value to a broad spectrum of people or businesses.
“It might be something where there's property next to a homeowner's property that they would want, it could be used for subdivision, or there might be some timber or mineral value there,” Nelson said. “It might be property that would interest a group interested in conservation.”
Nelson said that while the administration has floated the idea of selling forest land to fund the rural schools program, Congress still has to weigh in on the proposal.
“He's put it out there and now the Congress gets to work on it,” she said. “There's a long way to go on this.”
By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian
National forest land may be sold off to fund a federal program designed to help counties and school districts make up for the loss of money they previously received from federal timber sales.
The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act was signed into law by then-President Clinton in 2000. The law, initially carried by a Democrat and Republican from Oregon, was passed to help counties that previously received significant revenues from timber sales on federal lands.
Historically, the U.S. Forest Service paid 25 percent of forest-product revenues produced in the counties. But as federal timber sales declined and those revenues decreased dramatically, Congress looked for a way to make up for money the counties had come to depend on but were no longer receiving.
That safety net was the Secure Rural Schools program, which has paid out about
$1.2 billion since it was authorized six years ago, mostly to rural counties in the West.
The Bush administration's budget for the Forest Service, released Monday, would fund the program for five more years with money made by selling isolated parcels of federal land.
“We've been asked to look at our inventory of land, and all the regions have been asked to do this,” said Paula Nelson, spokeswoman for the agency's Northern Region office in Missoula. “We have a database of isolated parcels on the forest, so we're having the lands staff go over that now.”
Nelson said the regions are supposed to identify possible properties that could be sold by the end of the week.
Mark Rey, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Monday that the Forest Service probably has about 350,000 acres of land that qualify for the sale. About half that land would need to be sold over the next five years to produce the $800 million needed to fund the schools program.
Rey said the lands range from parcels as small as an acre to pieces of property of several hundred acres. Nelson said those sorts of properties could have value to a broad spectrum of people or businesses.
“It might be something where there's property next to a homeowner's property that they would want, it could be used for subdivision, or there might be some timber or mineral value there,” Nelson said. “It might be property that would interest a group interested in conservation.”
Nelson said that while the administration has floated the idea of selling forest land to fund the rural schools program, Congress still has to weigh in on the proposal.
“He's put it out there and now the Congress gets to work on it,” she said. “There's a long way to go on this.”
