Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 26, 1991 TAG: 9103260474
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Nationwide, the U.S. Forest Service indeed stated it made $302.5 million in timber sales in fiscal 1990; in addition, the agency paid $327.3 million in timber revenues to local governments for road and school programs.
However, the government lost $8.3 million on timber sales in Southern Appalachian national forests in fiscal 1990, $237,000 more than in the previous year. The losses by states include $2.6 million in Virginia, $573,000 in Georgia, $2.67 million in North Carolina, $1.1 million in Tennessee and $1.45 million in Kentucky.
In Southern national forests outside the Appalachian region, the timber-sales program turned a profit of $16,790,000. Southern states contributing to this financial success were Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.
The huge subsidy required by the below-cost timber sales in the Southern Appalachian states is borne by taxpayers. One of the most alarming aspects is that our members of Congress apparently are much more sensitive to the highly paid lobbying skills of the large forest-products industries and such special-interest groups as the Appalachian Forest Management group than they are to the welfare of our environment and taxpaying citizens. KIRK LUNSFORD JR. MILLBORO
by CNB