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Monday, February 06, 2012

End of federal payments to counties with national forest land having huge impact on local budgets

Federal payments to counties dependent on timber production from national forests are expiring this year. Oregon likely faces the biggest hit because more than 50 percent of its land is federally owned. Eighteen of the state's western counties received final payments from the Bureau of Land Management at the end of January, reports Alex Paul of the Democrat-Herald of Albany. The state will lose an allotment that's totaled $2.6 billion since 2000, reports Joel Millman of The Wall Street Journal. That payout has been the primary source of funding for 24 of the state's rural counties, helping "pay the bills for many of these areas since 1937." Many local officials in some counties are worried the cuts in funding will be a major blow to their operations, including those at local schools. (Read more)

Shoshone County, Idaho, is losing 48 percent of its funding, which is used for roads and schools, reports Kelsey Saintz of the Shoshone News Press in Kellogg. Kathie Durbin of The Columbian reports Skamania County, Washington, is losing half of its operating budget. While most of the attention on the program's end has focused on Western states, it affects any county with national forest land. Amy Harris of The Charleston Gazette reported last September that 13 counties and more than 111 public schools would lose almost $10 million a year unless Congress renewed it, which seems unlikely. 

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