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GAO-10-379R 1 (2010-03-04)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaanrj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: i Account bility Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 March 4, 2010 Congressional Committees Subject: Update on the Status of the Merchantable Timber Contracting Pilot Program Counties containing federal lands have historically received a percentage of the receipts generated by the sale or use of natural resources on the federal lands. A steep decline in federal timber sales during the 1990s, however, resulted in a significant decrease in federal payments to counties that previously depended on timber receipts. The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000,' reauthorized in 2008,2 was enacted, in part, to address this decline by stabilizing payments to counties that depended on revenues from timber sales on Forest Service and certain Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. 3 Under the act, each county may continue to receive a portion of the revenues generated from the sale or use of resources from these lands or may choose instead to receive annual payments based in part on historical revenue payments to the county. Among other things, the act provides for the Forest Service and BLM to implement certain land management projects, known as Title II projects, using a portion of these funds. The act mandates that a certain percentage of Title II projects involving the sale of merchantable timber be carried out under a pilot program in which the agencies are to use separate contracts for harvesting timber and selling it, rather than using a single contract for both activities, as is typical for most timber sales. The percentage requirement in the act varies by fiscal year: for projects using fiscal year 2008 funds, not less than 35 percent of eligible projects must be carried out within the pilot program; for fiscal year 2009 funds, not less than 45 percent; and thereafter, not less than 50 percent.4 The reauthorization also mandates that we assess this 1Pub. L. No. 106-393 (2000). This act covered the period from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2006. Pub. L. No. 110-28, Title V, § 5401(c) (2007) reauthorized the act for fiscal year 2007. 'Pub. L. No. 110-343, Div. C, Title VI, § 601 (2008). This act covers the period from fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2011. 3The act covers all National Forest System lands, as well as certain BLM lands in western Oregon. 4Under the 2000 act and its 1-year reauthorization, the percentages were as follows: in fiscal year 2001, 15 percent of eligible Title II projects were to be conducted under the pilot program; in fiscal years 2002 and 2003, 25 percent of projects; and in fiscal years 2004 through 2007, 50 percent. GAO-10-379R Merchantable Timber Contracting Pilot Program

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