Forest Service

Salvage timber involves dead or dying trees, much of which would be marketable if harvested before it rots. In the past, many sales of salvage timber were delayed, altered, or withdrawn, and some of the timber deteriorated and became unsalable. In response to the millions of acres of salvage timber caused by the devastating fires of 1994, Congress established an emergency salvage timber sale program, which was designed to increase the harvesting of salvage timber by easing environment procedures and eliminating the administrative appeals process. GAO testified that it is too early to say to what extent the changes introduced by the program will boost sales because few sales have been made since the program became effective. Some salvage sale offerings have failed to receive bids mainly because of the terms and conditions of the sales, such as the minimum bid or specific logging requirements or the volume of timber being offered, were unacceptable to potential buyers. In addition, because of the short-term nature of the emergency salvage sale program, more comprehensive information on the universe of marketable salvage timber may help Congress as it assesses the program's impact and whether additional resources are needed to support it.