Oregon gets $60 million in FS Secure Rural Schools funds

Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced Monday that Oregon will receive more than $60 million in Secure Rural Schools payments this fiscal year from the U.S. Forest Service for local education, law enforcement and roads.

The distribution includes $3.82 million for three Central Oregon counties: $1.674 million in Deschutes County, $1.61 million in Crook County and $541,161 in Jefferson County.

“School children seeking a quality education, families wanting to feel safe in their homes, and motorists counting on well-maintained roadways all benefit from these funds that I have strongly supported since I co-wrote the original SRS program,” Wyden said. “These payments also spotlight just how important it is that Congress reauthorizes this vital aid this year.”

“These funds are crucial to keeping teachers in our schools, first responders on the job, and cops on the beat in Oregon’s rural counties,” said Merkley. “But this funding is just a short-term reprieve. We need to figure out a long-term solution that establishes a sustainable timber harvest, creating jobs in the woods, while improving healthy forest ecosystems.”

Since Wyden co-wrote the original SRS program in 2000 with then-Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, Oregon counties have received nearly $3 billion.

Earlier this month, the Bureau of Land Management announced distribution of $35.5 million in SRS funds to 18 Oregon counties, none in Central Oregon.