The region’s four rural counties, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, and Modoc, are set to receive nearly 10 million dollars in secure rural school funds from the Forest Service. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. Says “The Secure Rural Schools program is one of many ways the Forest Service provides continuous support to communities across the country” .. to “provide funding for schools and roads”..and “reimburses counties for providing emergency services on national forests and supports the development of community wildfire protection plans.”
Under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act in 2000, the goal of the payments is to compensate counties for potential losses of tax revenue from the yearly expansion of forest service lands. Funds come from a portion of agency revenues from timber sales, mineral leases, recreation, grazing and other sources.
The Forest Service retains some of the funding to support projects that improve forest conditions and support jobs in rural communities.
In addition to Secure Rural Schools payments, the Forest Service is using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to improve forest conditions, support local economies and create jobs by investing in forest restoration projects, road and trail maintenance, recreation opportunities and wood innovation development.
Over the past 10 years, the Forest Service has distributed almost 2 and a half billion dollars through the Secure Rural Schools program. The entire state of California is set to receive around 33 million.
Photo by Timothy Allen on Unsplash
