Support Continued Revenue Sharing Payments to National Forest Counties

Action Needed

Urge your members of Congress to enact a long-term legislative solution for continued revenue-sharing payments to forest counties through the U.S. Forest Service’s Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. Counties rely on SRS payments to provide critical services including education, transportation infrastructure, search and rescue missions and fire prevention programs. The SRS program expires at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2026, and counties will receive their final payments in spring 2027, plunging them into fiscal uncertainty unless Congress acts to uphold its commitment to timber-dependent communities.

Further, Congress should reform forest management practices to improve forest health, increase timber production and ensure robust revenue sharing to all forest counties. If Congress fails to renew its long-standing obligation to forest counties and to the lands managed by the federal government by neglecting the need for a long-term solution for revenue sharing, counties across the United States could face significant budget shortfalls.

Background

The SRS program aids rural counties and school districts affected by the decline in revenue receipts from timber harvests on federal lands. In 2023, the SRS program provided more than $250 million to more than 700 counties in 41 states. 

Since 1908, federal law has directed 25 percent of all revenue from timber harvests in national forests to counties for schools and roads. Historically, rural communities have relied on those receipts to supplement local funding for education services and roads. During the 1980s, changes in national policies diminished the revenue-generating activity permitted in these forests. The resulting decline in timber sales decreased the revenue that rural counties and school districts received from forest management activities. In response, Congress created the SRS program in 2000 (P.L. 106-393) to stabilize payments to counties and to compensate communities for lost revenues. 

Since the program’s initial authorization expired in FY 2006, SRS has received consistent congressional support but has been subject to repeated lapses and short-term extensions, creating significant uncertainty for counties. 

In October 2008, SRS was reauthorized (P.L. 110-343) and amended to continue on a sliding payment scale. SRS was reauthorized on November 15, 2021, for FYs 2021 through 2023 by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (P.L. 117-58). The law also removed the program’s annual 5 percent funding reduction and permitted SRS Title III funds to be used for expanding broadband access in schools. SRS authorization lapsed in 2024, and counties faced significant budgetary challenges due to the loss of funding. For nearly two years, counties contended with reduced levels of local government services and financial uncertainty. 

The SRS program was reauthorized on December 18, 2025, through the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025 (P.L. 119-58) but is set to expire again at the end of FY 2026. Barring congressional action, counties will receive their last SRS payment in the spring of 2027, once again creating significant budgetary shortfalls and major challenges for timber-dependent communities. Enactment of a sustainable long-term program to share revenues generated from the management of designated federal lands with forest counties and schools will ensure that students receive essential education services and rural communities have critical funding for roads, conservation projects, search and rescue missions and fire prevention programs.

Key Talking Points

• If Congress fails to act to swiftly extend authorization for the SRS program, the lapse of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination (SRS) Act will create significant budgetary shortfalls for over 700 rural counties across the United States. When the authorization for SRS lapsed in FY 2023, federal forest revenue-sharing payments to counties decreased by 63 percent.
• Congress must quickly enact new legislation that provides forest revenue-sharing payments to counties and promotes active natural resource management for the stability and well-being of forest counties and communities. NACo will continue to urge leadership in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle to work together to enact a long-term, sustainable solution.
• Urge your members of Congress to support and cosponsor efforts to extend Secure Rural Schools authorization, including long-term or permanent reauthorization. This Congress must act to ensure that forest counties continue to have this crucial funding stream as they navigate economic transition.