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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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In Our View: That’s Not Timber Falling

Absurd federal policies cause 'dire' drop in funding for Skamania County

The Columbian
Published:

The absurdity of federal forest policies — and federal spending policies — has been illuminated by the 2015 government funding bill. While the $1.1 trillion measure will manage to keep the federal government up and running next year, a provision that will have a minor impact on most of the country could help shut down Skamania County and other rural areas.

In passing the spending bill, federal lawmakers declined to renew a program that each year sends millions of dollars to timber-dependent counties. Known as the Secure Rural Schools program, the plan initially was enacted in 2000 as a way to provide money for counties hampered by restrictions on logging and the revenue it provides. Since then, the plan has been a political football, with representatives from forest areas annually having to scramble in order to maintain that funding.

That often has been a failing proposition. Nationally, the funding reached a high of about $250 million in 2006 and dropped to $107 million by 2013. Considering that 80 percent of Skamania County is federal land — mostly the Gifford Pinchot National Forest — while another 8 percent is owned by the state and 10 percent is designated as private timber land, any changes to the program greatly impact the area. “It’s not good,” Skamania County Commissioner Chris Brong said. “It’s going to be really dire here.” Despite its name, money from the Secure Rural Schools program does not go directly to schools; it goes to the counties. Skamania County expected to receive about $1.5 million in 2015 — a sizeable chunk of the county’s $9.8 million budget.

Elsewhere, fluctuations in the timber payments also have had dire implications. In Oregon’s Josephine County, most sheriff’s patrols already have been cut, and officials say loss of the funds could lead to the closing of the county jail. In that state’s Grant County, about 18 percent of the budget is expected to come from the federal program.

All of which brings us back to the absurdity of the situation. The Secure Rural Schools program was born out of an economic plight created by federal restrictions on logging. In Skamania County, the heydays of the 1970s saw as many as 399 million board feet of timber being harvested; by 2000, that number was 26 million board feet — a decline of 93 percent. While the industry has rebounded a bit in recent years, the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan implemented by President Bill Clinton has failed to strike a proper balance between environmental concerns and economic concerns.

To recap: The federal government has limited the revenue-producing harvest of timber, telling counties it will pay them subsidies to not cut down trees — until it doesn’t. Adding to the absurdity is the fact that several Northwest lawmakers retain hope that the payments can be restored once the new Congress convenes in January. So, lawmakers passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill while deeming the Secure Rural Schools program expendable — until they restore it.

“I will not cease in my efforts to restore this funding so that schools in Skamania County, Lewis County, and throughout rural Washington can keep operating,” said Jaime Herrera Beutler, Republican representative from Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. Herrera Beutler, however, voted in favor of the spending bill that eliminated the timber money.

The solution should be simple: Allow for the well-managed harvest of a renewable resource that can help rural counties sustain themselves rather than rely upon federal subsidies. Instead, Congress opts for absurdity.

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