83 



TESTIMONY OF 



SUE KUPILLAS, JACKSON COUNTY COMMISSIONER 



Before the 



House Committee on National Parks, Forests and Lands 



July 23, 1996 



Good morning I am Sue Kupillas, second term commissioner serving Jackson County.The 

 federal government exerts anover>vhelming influence on our citizens, our communities and 

 business'. The BLM manages 449,000 acres in Jackson county alone. With the addition of 

 the three national forests which are found in Jackson County, federal land managers 

 control almost 50% of the counties land base. About half of the county budget, historically 

 has been revenues from timber harvest on federal lands. Jackson Counties shared timber 

 receipts resulted in as 



much as S17 million for the general fund. In the national recession of the early I980's 

 shared timber receipts dipped as low as S6.1 million. These receipts have funded an array 

 of ser\'ices, i.e. USPS contributed to roads and schools; O & C general fund revenues 

 supported the criminal justice system, the administrative services and small contributions 

 that sustained human ser>'ice non-profits as well as OSU extension services including 4-H, 



home-ec and beef production education, also maintained the Water Masters office in the 

 count)', and the Soil Conservation Service. The county has do^vnsized, combined 

 departments, eliminated functions, and privatized services, anticipating the shortfall with 

 changing forest management practices. Jackson County wrote the book on reinventing 

 government. With a fast growing population and increasing demand for more law 

 enforcement, human services, there is no comprehensive simple answer, but we feel the 

 residents should bear part of the burden thus the proposed tax levy, and because the land is 

 not available to tax, the timber receipts should also make up for part of the shortfall. In 

 this testimony I will include the statistics and effects of revenues declining because of the 

 annual reduction in the safety' net. The Federal Government has set programs to address 

 the job loss and declining revenues in the counties. Therefore I would also like to address 

 the effectiveness of programs created to ease the job loss from the wood products industry. 

 Finally, the future of timber receipts and the future of Jackson County depend on the 

 success or failure of the Record of Decision on the Presidents Forest Plan for the 

 Northwest. Because of the Counties direct impact, I will discuss the implementation 

 problems with the President's Forest Plan ROD. 



