NFCSC Position Paper
The National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition has agreed to the following long-term principles:
"Provide a process for developing a long-term solution to ensure long-term forest management and a return to actual gross receipts.
Any long-term solution must:
a. Promote local government coordination and community-based
partnerships.
b. Recognize the need for sustainable economic self-sufficiency
of rural communities through the best use of the natural resources
whether for farming, grazing, mining, timber harvest, recreation,
or aesthetics.
c. Be in accord with a definition of sustainable forest management,
wherein ecological, economic, and social factors will receive
equal consideration in the management of the National Forests.
d. Provide for total forest management, which considers the principle
of multiple use and other factors as they relate to total systemic
and sustainable forest health, based on current best science,
using independent critical peer review."
General Recommendations:
The Coalition believes that the Forest Counties Payments Committee must consider a full range of options in its deliberations over recommendations to Congress regarding H.R. 2389. One way of determining a range of possible options would be to establish the boundaries or extremes for the options. At one end could be the value of the National Forests if they were private lands, and the tax revenues that counties might get if this were the case. At the other end, the Committee should calculate the receipts that would be generated under the 1908 law, without the safety net payments. This assumes that under recent and current management, receipt generation would continue to decline or remain approximately at 2000 levels, the lowest since the 1950's.
While recognizing that neither of these would be politically acceptable, the Coalition believes that it is important for this information to be generated, so that the options that are eventually put forward by the Committee are considered in the context of these two benchmarks. The Coalition recommends that the Committee staff ask the agencies to generate this information as part of the background information for the Committee.
It is very important that the Committee staff fully reviews and summarizes for the Committee previous studies done on the issue of the economic values of National Forest lands. The Coalition is aware that studies were done as far back as the 1970's, and the Coalition recommends that these should be fully analyzed for information that may be helpful to designing and analyzing options, including a comparison of revenues for schools and counties provided under PL 106-393 and the options under consideration.
The Coalition also recognizes that without a revision of the Forest Service appeals process, the opportunities to generate receipts will continue to be severely limited and subject to high uncertainty. Therefore, the Coalition recommends a revision to the appeals process, which is too lengthy, too cumbersome, and acts as a negative incentive for active management. Specifically, simplify the salvage sale appeals process and expedite the process for salvage sales so that "Victory by Delay" incentives are removed.
Once a reasonable set of options has been developed, the Coalition would like to see rigorous social, economic, and ecological implications assessed and tradeoffs clearly displayed.
Options
The Coalition requests that the following options be considered at a minimum. We have noted where we believe that an option would require new legislation for the Forest Service and BLM to implement.
1. Return to Full Receipt Generation - Expand Areas of Receipt Generation
This option would allow H.R. 2389 to expire, but would need new legislation to expand the activities and programs that generate receipts and contribute to the 25% Fund. There are a number of programs that are not now, but could be generating receipts and contributing to the 25% Fund such as the stewardship contracting pilot projects, service contracts for forest health work, recreation fee demo projects, special use permit fees, etc.
There is also a need to redefine "gross receipts." A new look at "receipts" is needed and new designated activities that could contribute funds to the 25% Fund should be identified. This would allow added revenue to the 25% Fund, which could offset declines from the former major contributor, timber sales. There may also be value in looking more closely at what defines "costs" in the context of receipt generation.
It is not clear that this option would meet the Coalition's goal of full receipt generation from a historical perspective. It is possible that even with an increase in the number of projects, insufficient revenue could be produced to match historical receipts to counties.
2. Economic Value - Management Incentive Model
The Committee should consider, analyze, and evaluate an option that would maintain the US Forest Service Mission of "caring for the land and people" and managing the National Forests as assets for long-term health, sustainability, revenue and material production. The health, vitality, and growth of timber would be a primary purpose, where suitable and capable lands existed. In addition, other resources that would produce revenue would be managed as such and would contribute to the 25% Fund. It is expected that under this model the full payments to counties would be from receipts, using the assumption that federal programs would be designed to maximize revenues within the constraints of ecological sustainability and long-term health.
A variation on this would be to set up a compensation formula that would provide counties with payments for lands that were taken out of revenue production as set-asides based on their economic values.
3. Create "Trust" Lands for Generation of Receipts for Counties and Schools
This option would segregate specific areas of National Forests to be managed as Trust lands for the counties and schools. Revenue from these lands would be provided to counties and schools as replacement for the 25% Fund. The expectation would be that 100% of the revenue would be provided to the Trust as opposed to 25%, and therefore a smaller land base would be needed to keep payments at some specified level in perpetuity. The Long-Term Committee staff should compile information about the status and success of current trust arrangements. Various groups have done such studies. State Trust Lands could be the model for these arrangements.
4. H.R. 2389 Reauthorization or Reauthorize with Enhancements
This option would have Congress reauthorize H.R. 2389 in 2006 for a specified period of time. H.R. 2389 would simply continue with its current provisions. The Coalition would be concerned about a continuing periodic reauthorization because it would be a form of "decoupling" which the Coalition does not support.
A variation on this option might be to reauthorize with some "improvements or enhancements" based on the implementation experience over five years. The following would be possible enhancements:
a. Incentives to increase community involvement
b. Expansion of Title II with greater emphasis on economic utilization
of resources.
c. Full COLA
d. Delete exemption for stewardship contracts
Other Recommendations to the Federal Long-Term Committee
The following list identifies generally some suggestions by the Coalition for consideration in the development of the long-term options. They may be integral components of options, or just items that could be highlighted by the Committee for in-depth analysis and revision.
1. Revision of Endangered Species Act - Balance interests of
social, economic, and ecological objectives.
2. Reverse/Remove Federal/Foundation driven incentives to convert
private lands to federal ownership (Foundation/ESA/Agency Dynamic).
3. Restoration of multiple-use mission for U.S. Forest Service
and management consistent with the 1937 O&C Act for BLM timber
lands.
4. Simplify survey and manage requirements under ESA and NFMA.
5. Increase staffing and focus the mission of the United States
Forest Service in key areas.
6. Expand National Fire Plan to actively reduce catastrophic fire/shade
tolerant species (restore historic fire ecosystems-mechanically.
7. Contract all National Forest management activities. The Forest
Service, along with others, could bid on contracts.
