NACo testifies before Congress on national forest partnerships, urges long-term SRS reauthorization

Key Takeaways

Modoc County, Calif. Supervisor Ned Coe testified before the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture on behalf of NACo this week, making the case for stronger federal-county partnerships in national forest management — and urging Congress to act on Secure Rural Schools (SRS) reauthorization before the program lapses at the end of FY 2026.

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Testifying at a hearing titled "Reviewing Partnerships to Enhance Management of the National Forest System," Supervisor Coe drew on Modoc County's experience to illustrate what genuine federal-county coordination looks like in practice. With nearly two-thirds of Modoc County's 2.7 million acres under federal ownership — and therefore generating no property tax revenue — SRS is not a discretionary benefit for communities like his. The program is a structural necessity that funds roads, schools, search and rescue operations and the local capacity that makes partnership possible in the first place.

Subcommittee Chairman Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) framed the discussion around a central challenge. The nation's forests have been undermanaged for decades, the agency has identified more than 100 million acres in need of treatment, but it cannot meet that scale of work without partners such as counties. Members pressed witnesses on whether the partnership model can hold as the Forest Service restructures, and on how authorities such as shared stewardship, Good Neighbor Authority and Resource Advisory Committees perform on the ground.

Coe highlighted three concrete examples of what that partnership can produce: the Modoc County Resource Advisory Committee (RAC), which directs SRS Title II resources toward on-the-ground forest management priorities; the successful management of the Devil's Garden Wild Horse Territory, which returned to its legally designated population level for the first time in 55 years; and the Modoc Shared Stewardship Program, an innovative workforce pipeline that employed 43 workers who logged more than 18,000 hours on the ground last field season — maintaining over 700 miles of trails and roads and completing critical resource management and regulatory compliance work on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service.

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On behalf of NACo, Coe urged Congress to enact a long-term or permanent reauthorization of SRS with full funding for all three titles, support legislative frameworks enabling shared stewardship and workforce partnerships between federal agencies and counties, and direct the U.S. Forest Service to formalize regular coordination structures with county governments as a standard component of national forest management planning.