Northwest Forests Among Biggest Money Losers Washington, Oregon Account For Most Losses, Group Says
Once the backbone of the timber industry, national forests in Oregon and Washington account for eight of the 10 biggest money losers in the Forest Service’s commercial logging program, a conservation group said Wednesday.
The Forest Service acknowledged last month that its logging operations for fiscal 1996 lost money - about $15 million. It was the first time the agency had posted a loss.
The Wilderness Society contends the losses are much greater - an estimated $204 million in 1996. The non-profit conservation group says the accounting system used by the agency ignores many of the program’s expenses, from payments to counties to road construction and administrative costs.
“From coast to coast, our national forests are losing money,” said William Meadows, society president.
More than half of that loss, about $115.9 million, was the result of so-called “below-cost” timber sales at national forests in Oregon and Washington, the group said.
The report provides a forest-by-forest look at the losses, including those attributed to the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, which tops the list with $30.6 million in red ink for fiscal 1996.
The Forest Service reported a $1.2 million profit for the Tongass, and said Oregon and Washington forests combined profited $16.7 million.
The society says these forests also lost more than $10 million in 1996: the Gifford Pinchot of Washington, $17.5 million; Siuslaw of Oregon, $14.7 million; Willamette of Oregon, $14.1 million; and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie of Washington, $13.5 million.
“Sales in the Gifford Pinchot returned only 14 cents of every taxpayer dollar spent,” said Bob Freimark, the society’s assistant director in Seattle.
The Olympic National Forest lost $7.7 million, returning 35 cents on the dollar, and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie returned 15 cents on the dollar, the report said.
Overall, forests in Washington lost $44.6 million and in Oregon $71.3 million, the society said.
In Oregon, the Willamette’s $14.1 million loss marked a return of 47 cents on the dollar; Mount Hood, $8.6 million, returning 39 cents on the dollar; the Winema, $6.6 million, also returning 39 cents on the dollar; and the Rogue, $6.3 million, returning 51 cents on the dollar.
The biggest discrepancy between estimates provided by The Wilderness Society and Forest Service stems from the agency’s refusal to include as a cost its payments to counties, which get a 25 percent share of all timber sales from national forests within their borders.
That amounted to $153.9 million in fiscal year 1996. Environmentalists consider the payments a loss because the money is not returned to the U.S. Treasury.
xxxx Logging list
WASHINGTON - The Wilderness Society on Wednesday released a forest-by-forest report on the amount of money individual national forests made or lost in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1996. The environmental group includes payments to counties as well as road construction and overhead costs that the U.S. Forest Service does not include as expenses in its accounting system. Here are some of the forests on their list and their location with the Forest Service estimate for the amount of money made or lost on that forest in 1996, followed by the Wilderness Society’s estimate. All figures are millions of dollars. The numbers are rounded.
Idaho Panhandle, Idaho Forest Service 8.4 Wilderness Society -6.0
Lolo, Mont. Forest Service -0.6 Wilderness Society -5.5
Nez Perce, Idaho Forest Service -0.1 Wilderness Society -4.8
Colville, Wash. Forest Service -1.0 Wilderness Society -4.3