National Forests

Timber Utilization Policy Needs To Be Reexamined Gao ID: RCED-88-31 November 17, 1987

GAO examined the Forest Service's compliance with a timber utilization policy requiring that timber be offered for sale at its full tract value.

GAO found that: (1) 39 percent of 657 timber sales recorded in fiscal years (FY) 1985 and 1986 for 17 national forests in Montana and Idaho were advertised at amounts lower than GAO calculations of the tracts' values; (2) the total difference between the tract value and the advertised minimum bid price for these sales was about $16 million; (3) the Service did not make the required calculations to determine tract value; (4) personnel believed that the utilization policy was no longer relevant and that sale below the full tract value was justifiable on certain bases; and (5) regions did not follow requirements to calculate the cost of removing saleable but uneconomical trees for silvicultural treatment purposes and to subtract those costs from the tract value.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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