Lane County Officials In DC To Lobby for Federal Timber Payments

By April Baer - Oregon Public Broadcasting News
March 3, 2010 4:50 p.m.

Two Lane County Commissioners are in Washington DC. They're lobbying to continue federal funding essential to Oregon’s timber country.

Pete Sorenson and Bill Fleenor met with the White House’s office of public engagement.

They wanted to remind the Obama administration of the plight of counties with large tracts of tax-exempt federal land.

Lane County, for example, is assured $50 million dollars in compensation payments through 2011. But after that, the payments shrink to $5 million. Sorenson said he felt hopeful coming out of the meeting.

Pete Sorenson “Just the fact they were willing to meet with us was a huge change over the past administration, which mostly fought us.”

He says he’ll also press the issue with the National Association of Counties this weekend.
The deal that continued timber payments also paid money to some states that never had much timber. Sorenson defended that.

He says those states took losses from another federal program that compensates for lost land revenue.

April Baer, OPB News.