Man oh man, bush & crew - Save a school, cut down some trees!

[The Straight Story]

Amendment to Extend the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act

The President’s FY 2007 Budget for the Forest Service includes a legislative proposal that would reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 to allow payments under the Act to continue for an additional five years. This proposal underscores the President’s commitment to states and counties which have been impacted by the ongoing reduction in receipts primarily due to lower timber harvest levels on Federal lands.

To provide a funding basis for an extension of the Secure Rural Schools Act, the President’s proposal authorizes the sale of certain parcels of National Forest System Lands. Lands that are potentially eligible for this proposal have been identified. ]a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/rural_schools.shtml"] For information on the land sale proposal, including a list and maps, click here.

The extension of the Secure Rural Schools Act would provide affected states and counties a short-term safety net of payments which will be adjusted downward overtime and eventually phased out. For a description of the Secure Rural Schools program click here.

A Federal Register notice requesting comments on the lands identified as potentially eligible for sale is now available.

USDA Forest Service Accepting Public Comments On Potential List Of Eligible Tracts Of Land For Sale

http://www.fs.fed.us/news/2006/releases/02/secure-rural-schools.shtml

More on the original act:
Secure Rural School and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000

On October 30, 2000, the President signed Public Law 106-393. This law is called the "Secure Rural School and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000" and commonly known as Payments to States.

The Act addresses the decline in revenue from timber harvest in recent years received on Federal land, which have historically been shared with counties. These funds have been used for schools and roads. For each year 2001-2006, the law allows counties to receive a payment from the Federal government based on the State average of their top three years of payments from Federal lands.

The purpose of the Act is to stabilize payments to counties that help support roads and schools, provide projects that enhance forest ecosystem health and provide employment opportunities, and to improve cooperative relationships among Federal land management agencies and those who use and care about the lands the agencies manage.

If you have questions about the Payments to States Act, please contact any of the Regional RAC coordinators. To find contact information for a specific Regional RAC coordinator, select Forest Service Regions from the menu at the left and then click on the name of the region you are interested in.

http://wwwnotes.fs.fed.us:81/r4/payments_to_states.nsf

So to provide funding for the rural schools thing we sell off forest because we don't have the money to properly manage them?

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. If Republicans weren't so inept at managing, we wouldn't have to make

these kinds of sacrifices.

[acmejack]

2. They have no shame.