The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) Reauthorization Act, renewing a program that provides funding to timber‑dependent counties across the United States. Wood Central understands that the measure passed on a 399–5 vote, extending payments through fiscal year 2026 and restoring lapsed funding for 2024 and 2025.
Representative Cliff Bentz (R‑OR), who voted in favour, said the legislation will deliver $50 million annually for three years to Oregon’s rural counties: “In 1990, the Spotted Owl was listed under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species. Almost immediately, timber production from federal forests in the Western United States plummeted by 80%,” Bentz said. “The economic and societal cost to timber-dependent states and their timber-reliant counties was appalling. County tax revenues were decimated. A belated but needed response was the Secure Rural Schools Act, first passed in 2000.”
Bentz emphasised that the program helps fund infrastructure maintenance, wildfire mitigation, conservation projects, search-and-rescue operations, fire prevention initiatives, and education. “When society enacts socially attractive laws that seemingly benefit the broader public but end up harming small communities, society must mitigate that harm. This is what the SRS bill does,” he added.
The measures have drawn strong bipartisan support.
The program was designed to offset the collapse of timber revenues from federal lands following environmental protections in the 1990s. Since then, it has delivered more than $7 billion to over 700 counties and 4,400 school districts in 40 states. Representative Vince Fong (R‑CA), a co‑sponsor, applauded the vote, noting that rural California communities received more than $33 million in 2024 alone. Whilst Senator Ron Wyden (D‑OR) and Congressman Joe Neguse (D‑CO) were among the key Democrats who joined Republicans in pressing for reauthorisation.
- To learn more about how the US Congress is looking to support timber communities, including teaching mass timber in colleges and universities, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from August 2025.
