Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed two long-term timber contracts in the Tongass National Forest, focusing on: (1) timber harvested under the two contracts; (2) timber deleted from the contractors' operating plans; (3) backlogged timber; and (4) Forest Service management of the Tongass timber program. GAO found that: (1) the Service did comply with all of its internal controls for documenting harvested timber volumes, which resulted in inaccurate figures; (2) it could not verify the amount of timber deleted from operating plans because the Service's documentation and records were incomplete; and (3) the Service understated the volume of the timber backlog by 9 million board feet. GAO also found that the Service: (1) has expanded its use of log accountability audits; (2) limited the volume of timber harvested each year; (3) proposed or made contract changes addressing deletions; and (4) implemented two systems to improve its documentation of timber sales program activities.

Newsletter for the forest plan revision.

Newsletter for the forest plan revision.