Rep. Steve Daines has secured a commitment from the Forest Service that funds allocated to Montana counties through the Secure Rural Schools program will not be subjected to sequester cuts in 2014.

“Sequester will not apply to the fiscal year 2014 payments,” Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment Robert Bonnie replied to Daines during a Natural Resources Committee Oversight hearing on Jan. 14.

Daines noted that the program has already seen significant reductions in recent years and is set to expire at the end of 2014. The loss of Secure Rural Schools funding would make it difficult for Montana counties to pay for critical community services, including education, infrastructure maintenance and forest projects, Daines said.

Last year, after distributing Title I and III Secure Rural Schools payments, the Forest Service announced on March 19 that it would apply sequestration to the program, and it sent letters to states requesting the return of $17.9 million in funds that had already been paid out.

Montana was informed in August that $1.3 million from its anticipated Title II payment would be withheld to cover the Forest Service’s decision to apply sequestration retroactively.

“Our county commissioners work hard trying to put certainty in what is a rather uncertain equation coming out of Washington, as these sequester cuts are being implemented,” Daines said during the hearing. “Frankly, our county commissioners and leaders were flabbergasted when they heard the sequester would be applied retroactively, and this places our county commissioners in a very difficult position as it relates to budgeting for the year.”

Daines also called on the Senate to take up his Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, which extends the Secure Rural Schools program for another year. H.R. 1526 was recently passed by the House with bipartisan support. The bill also includes forest management reforms intended to revitalize the timber economy and maintain forest health.

“It will extend SRS payments for another year while we transition to start addressing the root cause, which is healthier forest management, and allow our forest counties — of which there are a lot in Montana — to benefit from the revenue generated and all of the jobs and additional tax revenue from a better timber economy and better forest management principles — healthier forests, lessening the risk of wild fires,” Daines said.

Bonnie agreed that long-term reforms to forest management and funding for rural counties are needed, stating that “we need to find a long-term solution” to the challenges facing national forests and forest counties.

“We need to increase the amount of work we’re getting done in the woods, I fully support that,” Bonnie said.