Is giving timber to private contractors in exchange for their work to improve the health of our nation's forests a good deal for the government?

U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management data on "stewardship contracting" are not accurate or complete enough to tell, states a General Accounting Office report issued Thursday.

The GAO examination follows extensive wildland fires fueled by tightly spaced trees, thick brush and adverse conditions like drought. The Forest Service and BLM say stewardship contracting helps prevent problems and saves money by having companies thin and improve forests in exchange for timber.

Between fiscal years 2003 and '07, the agencies awarded 535 stewardship contracts. But neither agency's database is complete, accurate or collaborative enough to accurately assess their costs versus value, the GAO said.

For example, the report states $14.1 million worth of timber was sold in the 2006 and 2007 fiscal years. While the BLM showed it received services valued around $10.5 million, the Forest Service didn't track the value of services it received in exchange.

The agencies say the contracting has helped build collaborative partnerships in communities in public lands care, but the GAO notes drawbacks.

"For example, on one project in southern Utah, Forest Service officials and the contractor thought that the compromise reached with an environmental group (to thin fewer trees) prevented the project from accomplishing its objective" to protect trees near a popular campground from ravaging pine beetles.

Despite "some political good will...it accomplished little in terms of resource management," the report states.

Included in GAO's review were fuel-reduction projects in Dixie National Forest and the "Buckskin-Powerline" project of the BLM's Kanab Field Office.

The GAO recommends that the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior develop long-term contract strategies and improved data collection.

"In commenting on a draft of this report, the Forest Service and BLM generally agreed with its findings and recommendations," the GAO report said.

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