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October 01, 2003
Counties Go With Secure Payments
All four counties in the Allegheny National Forest will now receive secure payments from the federal government rather than rely on 25% of timber receipts from timber sales.
The Bradford Era reported today that the 3 counties who had yet to make the decision - Warren, McKean and Elk - decided to follow the lead of Forest County. Forest County opted for the secure payments two years ago and has been receiving more money than the other three counties - something that never happened when Forest County relied on the 25% fund.
However, not everyone is pleased with the decision, like McKean County Commissioner Larry Stratton:
"We're very concerned about it because this will reduce the impetus for cutting".
This is pretty much an admission that it was never about schools and townships for those who supported the 25% fund - it was about supporting the timber industry and its desire to log in the Allegheny National Forest.
I can see now where some of the 15% that the county receives for particular projects will be used:
"Another possible use is for a forestry education program."
In other words, teaching our children that clearcutting and spraying toxic chemicals to promote a few tree species that are valuable is responsible forest management.
Posted by Ryan at October 1, 2003 10:17 AM
Comments
The argument that the formation of the National Forest takes money out of local coffers is a compelling one, especially for anti-federal ideologues who see such federally-owned land as a "taking" from individual and local ownership. I think it makes sense from that perspective for the guaranteed payments to be made permanent, and that is something we should consider actively supporting. Instead of being payments in lieu of a percentage of logging receipts, it should be framed as payments in lieu of property taxes that would otherwise be received by the local governments. So instead of "blood money", school districts in areas occupied by large federally-owned tracts of land would essentially be receiving a bit more federal school funding than other school districts. It seems like a fairly simple idea to me.
Posted by: Karen at October 1, 2003 10:26 PM
It just seems to me that a secure payment will in the long run reduce the pressure to timber.
Posted by: RJ at October 5, 2003 08:23 PM
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