HARRISBURG, IL, April 23, 2024— The USDA Forest Service has determined its 2023 annual payments to counties in which National Forest System Lands occur. In Illinois, the Shawnee National Forest administers land in ten counties, including Alexander, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Saline, Union, and Williamson, all of which will receive funding through the agency’s Secure Rural Schools Program.
The program was reauthorized for fiscal years 2021 through 2023 by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Payments are divided into three distinct categories, or Titles: Title I for roads and schools, Title II for projects on Federal lands, and Title III for county projects.
The ten counties within the Shawnee National Forest will receive a total $411,517 from the gross receipts generated on Forest Service lands during the 2023 fiscal year. Of the ten counties Pope County elected to receive 15% of its funds in Title II for use on projects that benefit federal lands in the county and elected the remaining 85% in Title I to be used for schools and public roads.
The remaining counties elected to receive all their funds in Title I and therefore will use them to benefit public schools and public roads in the county. The annual payment to the counties is made as soon as practical after the end of the fiscal year.
Nationally, $238 million will be paid to 745 eligible counties in 41 states and Puerto Rico to support public schools, roads and other municipal services. For payment information by county, visit Secure Rural Schools – Payments | US Forest Service
SRS payments are in addition to payments in lieu of taxes that the counties also receive for having federal land in their borders (Payment in Lieu of Taxes (doi.gov)). The ten counties with the Shawnee National Forest received $812,058 in PILT for 2023.
Background:
In the years after the Forest Service was established in 1905, the national forest system tripled in size, growing from 56 million in 1905 to 172 million acres in 1908. To compensate counties for potential losses of tax revenue from this early growth, Congress ratified the Act of May 23, 1908. The Act allowed the Forest Service to distribute a portion of agency revenues from timber sales, mineral leases, recreation, grazing and other sources to those states and counties containing national forests and grasslands.
Over time, agency revenues from these activities have declined through shifts in policy to manage national forests for multiple uses, including recreational and environmental considerations. In response, Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 to help stabilize fiscal support for rural county services. In 2021, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law reauthorized Secure Rural Schools payments through fiscal year 2023.
Each state’s Secure Rural School payment amount is determined by various factors established in the law, including the number of counties that elect to share in a state’s payment. Payments to states are distributed after the Forest Service collects revenue to accommodate those counties electing to continue participation in revenue sharing rather than the Secure Rural School payment.
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