I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1827
To eliminate below-cost sales of timber from National Forest System lands.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 6, 1997
Ms. FURSE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Agriculture
A BILL
To eliminate below-cost sales of timber from National Forest
System lands.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. ELIMINATION OF BELOW-COST SALES OF TIM-
BER 
FROM 
NATIONAL 
FOREST 
SYSTEM
LANDS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The National Forest Management
Act of 1976 is amended by inserting after section 14 (16
U.S.C. 472a) the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 14A. ELIMINATION OF BELOW-COST TIMBER SALES
FROM NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS.
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT THAT SALE REVENUES EXCEED
COSTS.—On and after October 1, 2002, in appraising tim-
ber and setting a minimum bid for trees, portions of trees,
or forest products located on National Forest System
lands proposed for sale under section 14 or any other pro-
vision of law, the Secretary of Agriculture shall ensure
that the estimated cash returns to the United States
Treasury from each sale exceed the estimated costs to be
incurred by the Federal Government in the preparation
of the sale or as a result of the sale.
‘‘(b) COSTS TO BE CONSIDERED.—For purposes of
estimating under this section the costs to be incurred by
the Federal Government from each timber sale, the Sec-
retary shall assign to the sale the following costs:
‘‘(1) The actual appropriated expenses for sale
preparation and harvest administration incurred or
to be incurred by the Federal Government from the
sale and the payments to counties to be made as a
result of the sale.
‘‘(2) A portion of the annual timber resource
planning costs, silvicultural examination costs, other
resource support costs, road design and construction
costs, road maintenance costs, transportation plan-
ning costs, appropriated reforestation costs, timber
stand improvement costs, forest genetics costs, gen-
eral administrative costs (including administrative
costs of the national and regional offices of the For-
est Service), and facilities construction costs of the
Federal Government directly or indirectly related to
the timber harvest program conducted on National
Forest System lands.
‘‘(c) METHOD OF ALLOCATING COSTS.—The Sec-
retary shall allocate the costs referred to in subsection
(b)(2) to each unit of the National Forest System, and
each proposed timber sale in such unit, on the basis of
harvest volume.
‘‘(d) TRANSITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—To ensure the
elimination of all below-cost timber sales by the date speci-
fied in subsection (a), the Secretary shall progressively re-
duce the number and size of below-cost timber sales on
National Forest System lands as follows:
‘‘(1) In fiscal years 1998 and 1999, the quan-
tity of timber sold in below-cost timber sales on Na-
tional Forest System lands shall not exceed 75 per-
cent of the quantity of timber sold in such sales in
the preceding fiscal year.
‘‘(2) In fiscal year 2000, the quantity of timber
sold in below-cost timber sales on National Forest
System lands shall not exceed 65 percent of the
quantity of timber sold in such sales in fiscal year
1998.
‘‘(3) In fiscal year 2001, the quantity of timber
sold in below-cost timber sales on National Forest
System lands shall not exceed 50 percent of the
quantity of timber sold in such sales in the fiscal
year 2000.
‘‘(e) BELOW-COST TIMBER SALE.—For purposes of
this section, the term ‘below-cost timber sale’ means a sale
of timber in which the costs to be incurred by the Federal
Government exceed the cash returns to the United States
Treasury.’’.
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