AGRICULTURE UPDATE: TIMBER JOBS, DOLLARS AND TOWNS AT RISK

Jobs, our schoolchildren and our rural livelihood. These are three entities vitally important to Missouri's rural, timber-dependent communities and which benefit from national forest timber sales. For years, the receipts generated from federal timber sales have added important dollars to the tax coffers of many local governments. But now, responsible forestry management practices and timber sales are the target of the President's budget plan to reduce timber harvest in our Mark Twain National Forest.

At home, the benefits of federal timber sales speak for themselves. In 1992, Missouri taxpayers saw over $1.3 million returned on account of timber sales by the federal government for local roads and school districts -- dollars that did not have to be taken from the pocket of the Missouri taxpayer. If the President's plan is enacted, the 1995 tax revenues for Missouri could easily be 50 percent less than 1992. I have joined Missouri Senators Jack Danforth and Kit Bond in fighting the President's Forest Service budget so that our local schools and county government do not endure a fifty percent reduction in support.

Meanwhile, the timber industry continues to play a crucial role in the economic livelihood of Southern Missouri. Presently, over 25,000 Missouri jobs depend on timbering; and, our state's forestry industry contributes hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the Missouri economy. These are staggering economic figures for a way of life that many professional preservationists would like to put out of business in their efforts to lock up the Mark Twain National Forest.

Increased revenues for our local schools, sustained regional tourism, enhanced fire protection enforcement, improved local roads, and bolstered outdoor recreation are just some of the benefits that federal timber sales help generate for our rural Missouri society. Undoubtedly, these are benefits that I will work to see continue for years to come.

Bill Emerson represents the eighth district in the U.S. House of Representatives.