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Sheriff’s patrols and other emergency services, along with road and bridge maintenance, are the major areas being affected in Oregon counties suffering from the loss of the federal timber safety net, according to a study released Wednesday by Oregon State University.
“These impacts are most pronounced in the eastern and southwestern parts of the state, where federal forest payments have comprised a greater percentage of the counties’ budgets,” said Brent Steel, an OSU political science professor and co-author of the report.
Thirty-three of the state’s 36 counties received payments under the safety net, which expired two years ago after being signed into law in 2000 by President Bill Clinton. Congress extended the law for a year under an emergency provision but was unable to do so again before the start of the new county fiscal year July 1.
Douglas County, one of only four Oregon counties that did not respond to the study by OSU’s Rural Studies Program, received $52 million a year under the program. Of that, $24.6 million went into the county’s general fund, where it could be used to help fund a variety of operations. Another $14.4 million went into the county’s road fund, for use in building and maintaining roads.
The first safety net went into effect after logging was severely curtailed in 1994 after protections were put into place for the northern spotted owl. Payments then, as with the most recent safety net, were based upon historical harvest levels. That explains why Douglas County received the highest safety net payments.
Only three Oregon counties, Clatsop, Sherman and Gilliam counties, received no funding through the safety net. Clatsop County receives major revenue from the Clatsop State Forest, while Sherman and Gilliam counties, located next to one another along Interstate 84 east of The Dalles, contain no state or national forests.
A quarter of the safety net counties began making cuts to services, reduced hours or laid off workers as far back as the 2005-06 fiscal year. One-third of the counties reported increasing fees or other charges to maintain services. Even back then, only half of the counties reported being able to adequately maintain their roads that year.
By last fiscal year, two-thirds of the safety net counties reported staff reductions and service cuts. Only a quarter of the counties could maintain their roads adequately. More than half of the counties reported raising fees.
Only 13 of the counties responding to the survey were able to set aside money last fiscal year for future use. Since Douglas County did not respond to the survey, it wasn’t included in that number. However, the county has set aside a portion of its safety net funding for more than a decade. By the end of the last fiscal year, June 30, Douglas County had more than $100 million in its reserve fund.
During the past three years, the number of employees in the counties that participated in the study fell by 2 percent.
Douglas County left some unfilled positions open over the past few years and cut the number of full-time equivalent positions by 59, to 803, in the new fiscal year.
The 18 Western Oregon counties that contain Oregon & California Railroad lands within their borders received a larger portion of revenues than those with just national forests. The O&C lands, managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management, consist of a checkerboard array of property once meant to help the railroad finance construction. They were later seized by the federal government following a massive land swindle and counties were later given 75 percent of the revenue from timber harvests, although Congress has reduced that to 50 percent since the 1950s.
Even without the safety net, Douglas County expects to receive $3.6 million in actual timber revenues this fiscal year from the O&C lands. The Public Works Department is expected to receive $760,000 in timber receipts from national forests managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Because O&C revenues can be used for general county services, the impact on those services and law enforcement from the loss of the safety net is greatest in the Western Oregon counties. Counties in Eastern Oregon, which have relied on Forest Service safety net revenues, will suffer mostly from reduced road maintenance funds.
“There are six counties in Eastern Oregon (Wallowa, Union, Baker, Harney, Wasco and Wheeler) that likely will have gravel road standards within the next two to four years,” said Bruce Weber, an OSU agricultural and resource economics professor and director of the Rural Studies Program.
In Harney and Wheeler counties, the federal forest payments made up 70 percent of the funds used for road maintenance, he said.
Although the impact from the loss of the safety net is greatest in rural counties, urban counties aren’t immune, either. Lane County, for example, will lose $50 million, and even Clackamas County in the Portland metropolitan area will have to make do without $10 million in safety net revenue.
The full report, along with a map showing forest lands throughout Oregon, is available online at www.nrtoday.com.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.
“These impacts are most pronounced in the eastern and southwestern parts of the state, where federal forest payments have comprised a greater percentage of the counties’ budgets,” said Brent Steel, an OSU political science professor and co-author of the report.
Thirty-three of the state’s 36 counties received payments under the safety net, which expired two years ago after being signed into law in 2000 by President Bill Clinton. Congress extended the law for a year under an emergency provision but was unable to do so again before the start of the new county fiscal year July 1.
Douglas County, one of only four Oregon counties that did not respond to the study by OSU’s Rural Studies Program, received $52 million a year under the program. Of that, $24.6 million went into the county’s general fund, where it could be used to help fund a variety of operations. Another $14.4 million went into the county’s road fund, for use in building and maintaining roads.
The first safety net went into effect after logging was severely curtailed in 1994 after protections were put into place for the northern spotted owl. Payments then, as with the most recent safety net, were based upon historical harvest levels. That explains why Douglas County received the highest safety net payments.
Only three Oregon counties, Clatsop, Sherman and Gilliam counties, received no funding through the safety net. Clatsop County receives major revenue from the Clatsop State Forest, while Sherman and Gilliam counties, located next to one another along Interstate 84 east of The Dalles, contain no state or national forests.
A quarter of the safety net counties began making cuts to services, reduced hours or laid off workers as far back as the 2005-06 fiscal year. One-third of the counties reported increasing fees or other charges to maintain services. Even back then, only half of the counties reported being able to adequately maintain their roads that year.
By last fiscal year, two-thirds of the safety net counties reported staff reductions and service cuts. Only a quarter of the counties could maintain their roads adequately. More than half of the counties reported raising fees.
Only 13 of the counties responding to the survey were able to set aside money last fiscal year for future use. Since Douglas County did not respond to the survey, it wasn’t included in that number. However, the county has set aside a portion of its safety net funding for more than a decade. By the end of the last fiscal year, June 30, Douglas County had more than $100 million in its reserve fund.
During the past three years, the number of employees in the counties that participated in the study fell by 2 percent.
Douglas County left some unfilled positions open over the past few years and cut the number of full-time equivalent positions by 59, to 803, in the new fiscal year.
The 18 Western Oregon counties that contain Oregon & California Railroad lands within their borders received a larger portion of revenues than those with just national forests. The O&C lands, managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management, consist of a checkerboard array of property once meant to help the railroad finance construction. They were later seized by the federal government following a massive land swindle and counties were later given 75 percent of the revenue from timber harvests, although Congress has reduced that to 50 percent since the 1950s.
Even without the safety net, Douglas County expects to receive $3.6 million in actual timber revenues this fiscal year from the O&C lands. The Public Works Department is expected to receive $760,000 in timber receipts from national forests managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Because O&C revenues can be used for general county services, the impact on those services and law enforcement from the loss of the safety net is greatest in the Western Oregon counties. Counties in Eastern Oregon, which have relied on Forest Service safety net revenues, will suffer mostly from reduced road maintenance funds.
“There are six counties in Eastern Oregon (Wallowa, Union, Baker, Harney, Wasco and Wheeler) that likely will have gravel road standards within the next two to four years,” said Bruce Weber, an OSU agricultural and resource economics professor and director of the Rural Studies Program.
In Harney and Wheeler counties, the federal forest payments made up 70 percent of the funds used for road maintenance, he said.
Although the impact from the loss of the safety net is greatest in rural counties, urban counties aren’t immune, either. Lane County, for example, will lose $50 million, and even Clackamas County in the Portland metropolitan area will have to make do without $10 million in safety net revenue.
The full report, along with a map showing forest lands throughout Oregon, is available online at www.nrtoday.com.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.
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