Last week, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Oregon) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue requesting an explanation of the sequestration of a portion of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (SRS). According to the letter, it was reported that USDA withheld 6.2 percent of the amounts that are not subject to sequestration. In the letter, Senators Wyden and Merkley requested that the withheld funds be promptly forwarded for distribution to the schools and counties entitled to SRS.
The issue of differing interpretations between the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service whether sequestration would be applied to SRS payments was resolved. The U.S. Forest Service has already initiated payments, and it is anticipated the first payments for FY 2018 will begin be arriving to states soon. The U.S. Forest Service is expected to provide detailed updates regarding payments.
Adopted in 1906, federal law requires the U.S. Forest Service to provide counties and schools with 25 percent of the revenues generated on federal forest lands from a variety of activities including timber harvesting, mining, and recreational activities. In 2000, Congress enacted SRS to provide funding for rural counties and school districts to replace revenue from dwindling forest receipts due to a national decline in timber harvesting. While Congress reauthorized SRS payments for FY 2017 and FY 2018, the on-again, off-again flow of SRS payments continues to frustrate California’s forested counties.
The letter from Senators Wyden and Merkley to Secretary Perdue can be accessed here. RCRC’s advocacy page pertaining to the Federal SRS can be accessed here.