Timber program becomes vast entitlement

A federal program that began as a safety net for Pacific Northwest logging communities hard-hit by battles over the spotted owl in the 1990s has morphed into a sprawling entitlement - one that ships vast amounts of money to states with little or no historic connection to timber, an analysis by The Associated Press shows. A four-year renewal of the law, passed last year, authorizes an additional $1.6 billion for the program through 2011 and shifts substantial sums to states where the spotted owl never flew. While money initially was based on historic logging levels, now any state with federal forests - even those with no history of logging - is eligible for millions in Forest Service dollars. Here in Catron County, the part of western New Mexico where Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch gang once holed up, the program distributes the highest per capita payment in the nation - $1,883 per person. The county, which sits along the Arizona border, is larger than three Eastern states, yet has fewer than 3,500 residents. The public high school in Reserve, the county seat, has just five seniors. The handful of businesses lining Main Street close early each evening, save for a quiet bar frequented by a few locals. Of much more important note: New Mexico's two senators served as chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate committee that rewrote the timber payments formula. New Mexico's increase under the new formula was 692 percent...read more