The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ACTIVE FOREST MANAGEMENT LEADS TO HEALTHY COMMUNITIES” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H669 on Feb. 2, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ACTIVE FOREST MANAGEMENT LEADS TO HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, the Twenty-Five Percent Fund Act of 1908 required 25 percent of tax receipts of timber harvested from U.S. national forests to be returned to the counties where the tax receipts originated.
Since local property taxes cannot be levied on Federal lands, these dollars along with payment in lieu of taxes, or PILT, funding are critical for counties located in national forests and other Federal lands. This is because the 1908 law specifies that they directly support local schools and road activities in national forests.
Unfortunately, timbering has dramatically decreased in the National Forest System since the late 1980s. According to the Forest Service, the agency was annually harvesting over 12 billion board feet by the end of the 1980s, but today, this amount has decreased to less than 2 billion board feet per year.
Make no mistake, timbering activities, such as removing unhealthy wood waste and potential fire fuel, plays a fundamental role in the core mission of the Forest Service and lends the forest health.
Leading up to the turn of the century, declining timber production has resulted in less forest management and, therefore, decreased forest health, fewer local employment opportunities, and dramatically less funding for schools and roads in forested communities.
As a result, the Secure Rural Schools program was created in 2000 to help offset the lack of funding for essential local activities. Unfortunately, the program was allowed to expire at the end of September 2014, resulting in payments to counties reverting back to previous law which again requires 25 percent of the tax receipts from timbering to be returned to the counties of origin.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the parent agency of the Forest Service, announced that 25 percent of receipts will be paid to 41 States throughout the coming months in 2015.
These funds are very much needed in rural communities located on Federal lands, including the Allegheny National Forest, where four counties in northwestern Pennsylvania directly benefit.
While these funds amount to nearly $50 million nationally, they represent only one-sixth of the funds that were provided the previous year through the Secure Rural Schools program.
Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Education and the Workforce Committee and a former school board president, I can attest that there is no school district in America that could have 94 percent of a funding stream pulled out from underneath them and still manage.
Make no mistake, the Secure Rural Schools program has gone a long way in helping communities bridge the financial shortfalls for the lack of taxable land over the past 15 years, but the program alone does not solve the underlying challenges faced by counties and communities colocated in national forests and other Federal lands.
In order to ensure the long-term ecological sustainability and economic prosperity of our national forests and our local communities, the Forest Service must adhere to its historical mission of active forest management and timber harvesting for our Nation.
Mr. Speaker, let us not be confused. National forests are not national parks; they are home to the people's resources. We must encourage sustainable and increased production of the public's resources which directly support those communities that are colocated on Federal lands. This would be a win-win for the country. The American people deserve as much.
____________________
