66 



Cost efficiency 



Our report discusses "less than efficient use" of taxpayer funds by the Forest 

 Service and BLM. For example, the Willamette NF issued its FY 92 annual 

 monitoring and evaluation report last week. The report shows that the 

 Willamette NF sold only 22 mmbf of its 491 mmbf ASQ in FY 92 - or 

 approximately 4% of its sale program. However, the agency spent $8.8 

 million on its timber sale preparation program - more than what was 

 projected in its forest plan for a timber sale program that would sell 491 

 mmbf annually. One can suspect that much of those timber sale costs were 

 related specifically to the northern spotted owl. 



One can also reasonably conclude that the Forest Service and BLM timber 

 sale programs will be less than in previous years. Both agencies need to 

 operate in a more economically efficient manner. 



USPS recommendations 



Our report offered a number of recommendations to generate reforestation 

 jobs and increase timber volume on Forest Service lands. First, we would 

 like to suggest that there is a critical need for all of the affected parties 

 (timber industry, environmental groups, other) to negotiate in good faith and 

 to make compromises. Organizations that are unwilling to compromise and 

 negotiate in good faith should be excluded from the resolution process. 



Re-start timber sale program: Many people recognize that the previous cut 

 was too high. The sale program needs to be lowered. However, the present 

 sale level (which is essentially non-existent) will cause wide-spread economic 

 harm to many parties. The federal government will lose hundreds of millions 

 of dollars of timber sale revenues. The counties, if the federal government 

 was to eliminate its "subsidy," would lose tens of millions of dollars. The 

 Forest Service will lose hundreds and perhaps thousands of its employees in 

 Region 6. Many mills in Oregon and Washington have already shut down. 

 Unemployment in rural communities has stayed high. Forestry workers and 

 loggers who have been able to get other jobs have typically taken a pay cut. 

 In an effort to reduce taxpayer expenses, our association recommends that 

 the President and the US Congress need to re-start the Forest Service timber 

 sale program 



Replenish KV fund: The Forest Sen/ice borrowed $90 million from its KV 

 fund nationwide to pay for FY '92 firefighting costs. Congress has 

 apparently not fully appropriated all of the funds to replenish the account. 



