Clinton Budget Generous to Natural Resources
Indicates Administration's Program Priorities

From the March Issue of The Forestry Source

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President Clinton's Fiscal Year 1999 budget proposal begins discussions with Congress that determine the fate of federal resource management programs.

On February 2, President Clinton submitted to Congress his $1.7 trillion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 1999, the first federal budget plan in 30 years projected to balance.

Although GOP leaders in Congress welcomed the idea of a balanced budget, they still found much to criticize in the Clinton plan-particularly its new spending initiatives. Republicans derided such proposals by the administration as a return to "big government."

Part of the spending referred to by the GOP applies to federal natural resources programs. And although it remains to be seen what appropriations levels will be finally agreed on by the administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, the President's budget proposal is still an important indicator of the administration's program priorities as they relate to forest resource management. The following is an overview of the budget's implications for important program areas that relate to forest management.

USDA Forest Service Roads
The Forest Service's budget reflects Chief Mike Dombeck's January 22 announcement that the agency will propose a moratorium of at least 18 months on the construction of new logging roads in roadless areas throughout the National Forest System.

According to the Forest Service, of the 373,000 miles of authorized roads that crisscross federal forests—plus another 60,000 miles of "ghost roads," which are unplanned and unmanaged—only about 40 percent are maintained to the environmental and safety standards intended. Necessary repairs to the system will cost some $10 billion, the agency estimates. The budget assumes a savings of approximately $10 million by reducing the number of logging roads built by the Forest Service, and like last year proposes to eliminate "timber purchaser credits" granted to logging companies that build their own roads to reach the federal timber they have bought.

The agency wants to spend $203.1 million on its roads program, which represents a 17 percent increase in funds budgeted from the year previous. Of that total, $107 million is allocated for road maintenance and $58.7 million would be spent on reconstruction, construction, and road closures and obliterations. Only $37.4 million of the total would go for timber access roads, down from $47.4 million in fiscal 1998.

National Forest System
Overall funding for the National Forest System, the agency's main operating account, which includes timber sales but not firefighting, would be increased by slightly more than 5 percent. Forestland management would decrease by 6 percent, to $257.3 million.

In other forest system accounts, wildlife and fisheries habitat management would increase by 15 percent; soil, water, and air management by 26 percent; and wilderness management by 5 percent.

Timber Receipts
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has proposed to sever the link between timber receipts and payments to states.

Under current law, 25 percent of Forest Service receipts-fees from logging, mining, and oil and gas development in national forests-is paid to states, which distribute the money to counties to pay for roads and schools. Historically most of the money has come from timber receipts.

Declining production of federal timber (projected at 3.493 billion board feet for FY 1999, down from FY 1998's projection of 3.8 billion board feet) has reduced those receipts, and hence the payments.

Glickman said the proposal would "discourage this ethic that you've got to cut down trees" to provide counties with enough money for roads and schools.

Under the proposal, the payments would be calculated by taking 76 percent of a county's average payment between 1986 and 1990; counties that received higher payments in 1997 would be frozen at the 1997 number. The proposal would cost $270 million in fiscal 1999.

Water Quality
An item highlighted by administration officials and budget documents is the multiagency Clean Water and Watershed Restoration Initiative. Approximately $715.8 million of the money the Forest Service expects to spend in 1999 will contribute to watershed protection and restoration activities, which the agency says would be an increase of 12 percent over 1998 levels.

Forestry Incentives for Nonindustrial Private Forestlands
The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service's Forestry Incentives Program, for which $6 million was appropriated in the current year, would be eliminated under the Clinton proposal. FIP focuses on such simple management actions as tree planting and timber stand improvement. The program has helped reforest more than 600,000 acres.

The Forest Stewardship Program, administered by the state forestry agencies, funds foresters to develop stewardship plans with NIPF owners. These landowners are then eligible to apply for cost-sharing money under the Stewardship Incentives Program. The budget proposes that Congress fund the SIP program at $8.5 million, an increase of $2 million over FY 1998, and the Forest Stewardship program at $27.6 million, an increase of $3.8 million.

Research
The President's proposal for Forest Service research reflects several of the administration's priorities and represents a $10 million increase over last year's funding. The McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Research program, which pays for research at US forestry colleges, is funded at $19.8 million, a slight decrease from 1998 levels.

State and Private Forestry
The Forest Service's state and private Forestry programs received a modest increase of $1.6 million over the FY 1998 appropriation of $161 million in the President's proposal. The programs provide the state foresters and private landowners with seed money that leads to improved management of nonfederal forests.

Firefighting
The administration has asked for $554 million for firefighting, a slight increase over current funding. The proposal provides $235 million for fire operations, $65 million to remove dead wood and other debris that could fuel fires, and $102 million in contingency funds. For preparedness activities, including organization and prevention, the administration proposes to spend $319 million. The budget also provides an additional $23.5 million for cooperative fire protection activities.

Renewable Resources Extension Act
RREA provides for forest landowner education and technology transfer through the Cooperative Extension Service. RREA funding remains the same as last year's budgeted level of $3.4 million. Advocates of the program include SAF, which last year worked on behalf of the program after the President's 1998 budget proposed to eliminate its funding.