Counties Get Year’S First Timber Receipts

Funds distributed to Idaho counties from federal timber receipts declined this year by 44 percent. The first installment, comprising 75 percent of the estimated total payment for the year, was disbursed Thursday by the state treasurer’s office.

Of the 36 Idaho counties receiving federal forest funds, 25 saw their receipts decline from last year at this time. On average, the counties received 36.6 percent less money than last year.

Losses ranged from $3.75 in Lewis County to $1.2 million in Idaho County, and totaled $3.9 million.

“The Clinton administration has systematically been making drastic cuts in national forest timber sales for most of the decade. Since 1992, sales have been slashed from more than a billion board feet per year to nearly half that,” state Treasurer Ron Crane said Thursday.

Crane said the result is a sharp drop in funds available to Idaho counties for schools and road maintenance.