Administration of the Federal Ban on Exports of Unprocessed Federal Timber

Gao ID: T-RCED-90-8 November 7, 1989

GAO reviewed the Forest Service's and Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) implementation of the federal ban on unprocessed federal timber exports. GAO found that: (1) although the Service's regulations made it difficult for firms to buy more Service timber to replace increased exports of private timber, BLM regulations allowed firms to increase their purchases and exports, over time, without limit; (2) neither agency regulated federal timber acquired through intermediaries to replace exported private timber; (3) the agencies' control mechanisms to monitor private timber export levels relied almost solely on reports from purchasers; (4) the agencies generally did not test or audit the accuracy of purchaser reports and depended on firms to inform them of suspected violations; and (5) enforcement was difficult because the historical export levels were established by geographical area, which was often vaguely defined, and because the penalties for violations were limited.

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.

Director: James Duffus Iii Team: General Accounting Office: Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 512-7756


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