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Timber bill would help counties It's supposed to stabilize income By PAUL FATTIG Jackson and Josephine counties can expect more in their coffers from national forest timber harvest receipts if a bill passed by the House on Wednesday becomes law. Under the formula approved by the House, Jackson County, which received about $3.9 million last year, would receive about $4.7 million, according to 2nd Congressional District Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River. Josephine County, which received $1.9 million during the same period, would have received about $2.3 million under the new formula contained in the bill, Walden said. "This is a huge victory for us," Walden said. "It appears that our district has more to benefit from passage of this bill in terms of new revenues than anyone else." Although he stressed that the estimated increases are only ballpark figures, he said the district would have received about $73 in 1998, some $31 million more under the new formula. The district covers 18 counties, including Jackson and Josephine as well as all of Eastern Oregon. The measure, approved in a 274-153 vote, is intended to stabilize the effect that declining timber sales have had on rural counties with acres of federal lands that don't pay local taxes for schools and roads. The bill would maintain the amount of revenues -- mostly logging receipts -- that come from federal lands inside their borders. Opponents say the bipartisan bill would force the government to cut down more trees. Congress needs to "decouple" the link between harvest levels and county funding, according to a spokesman for the Southern Oregon Forest Coalition. The bill would establish a seven-year payment for counties, and leaves the link between harvest and funding. Bob Cantine, executive director of the Association of Oregon Counties, said the bill works for him. "This is a huge win for Oregon counties, Oregon schools and Oregon communities," Cantine said. The House bill's new formula requires the Forest Service to pay counties from the agency's budget when current sales fall below the amount counties received when timber harvests were at their highest in the mid-1980s. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill, if enacted, could increase direct federal spending in those counties by $173 million in fiscal 2000. Last year, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management sent $273 million to about 800 counties in 41 states to pay for roads and schools. More than 75 percent of the payments went to five states -- Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana. Oregon counties got the most -- about $140 million. The new formula calls for 80 percent of the payments to go to schools and roads while 20 percent would go to community-based projects, Walden observed. "That would allow us to get out and take care of the survey and management requirements contained in the Northwest Forest Plan," he said. Federal courts have decided those requirements have not been met, and, as a result, have halted many federal timber harvests in western Oregon. The bill, which Walden believes has a good chance of passing the Senate, is not veto-proof, he acknowledged. President Clinton has backed off from an original threat to veto the bill, but he seeks further compromise on the decoupling issue. The administration also opposes bill language allowing counties to set aside 20 percent of these payments to spend on community projects. Walden, who cites fellow U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., for his work on the bill, said he was optimistic that the bill has a shot at becoming law. "It's a decent compromise," Walden said. "And it's one that shows the Oregon delegation, although we may have differences, can sit down and get a job done. This sends a bill that has strong bipartisan support to the Senate and, hopefully, to the President." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA