SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION AND PROGRAM

In October 2000, Congress passed Public Law 106-393 entitled "Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act of 2000" which stabilized federal payments to states for funding schools and roads. The new law commonly referred to as Payments to States replaces and fundamentally changes the way the Forest Service has been returning a portion of its annual receipts to jurisdictions falling within national forest boundaries ("the 25 percent fund").

For the period between fiscal years 2001 and 2006, instead of automatically receiving 25 percent of annual national forest receipts, boroughs in Alaska chose to receive a "full payment amount" which is based on the average of the three highest payments made to the state between 1986 and 1999. The annual full payment amount that will come to the State of Alaska for fiscal year 2001 is just over $9 million. For comparison, under the 25 percent fund approach, the amount coming to the State of Alaska in fiscal year 2001 was estimated to be $2 million.

Between 80 and 85% of the full payment amount will be distributed by the state to the boroughs as it has been in the past for schools and roads. The boroughs annually decide how to allocate the remaining 15 to 20 percent to special projects in categories called Title II or Title III. Boroughs that receive less than $100,000 in a year, which include all of the Chugach National Forest boroughs and communities, can elect to expend all the funds for roads and schools.

For Title II special projects, Resource Advisory Committees (RAC) will be established and maintained as Federal Advisory Committee Act committees to make recommendations on how the Title II special project funds should be spent. Potential Title II projects encompass a broad range of maintenance and improvement work for such items as roads and trails, watersheds, and fisheries and wildlife habitat on national forests or non-federal land where the project would benefit resources on federal land. Environmental analysis would have to be conducted for Title II projects.

Title III special projects are identified and approved directly by the borough and need no Resource Advisory Committee. A narrower range of projects is applicable for those funds.

Resource Advisory Committees

The legislation is very specific on the number of committee members (15) and interests that must be represented on each committee including commercial timber interests; environmental and recreation interests; elected officials, tribal representatives, educators, and the general public.

The initial recruitment for RAC members in Alaska was completed in fall 2001. The broad outreach included over 600 letters mailed, many personal meetings, presentations to groups, and multiple paid advertisements in all print media and major radio media throughout Southeast Alaska.

Five resource advisory committees have been identified for the Tongass National Forest: Yakutat; Upper Lynn Canal-Icy Strait; Wrangell-Petersburg; Prince of Wales Island; and Ketchikan. Only the Yakutat, Wrangell-Petersburg, and Ketchikan RACs will have members identified this year. For FY 2002, elected officials in Yakutat have allocated $90,000 of special projects funds to Title II and officials in Wrangell and Petersburg have allocated $278,000 to Title II.

The Under Secretary of Agriculture appointed members for those three RACs. RAC meetings are open to the public and will have time on each agenda for the public to address the committee.

The focus of RAC efforts is on identifying widely supported projects for Title II funding that would benefit the national forest and communities. Those projects are intended to improve maintenance of infrastructure, implement stewardship objectives that enhance forest ecosystems, and improve land health and water quality. The RACs will solicit for potential projects, then review, and recommend projects to the Tongass Forest Supervisor for Title II funding.