Sale and Disposal of National Forest Timber; Indices To Determine Market-Related Contract Term Additions

Résumé

The Forest Service proposes to amend current regulations to require the use of Industry Series Producer Price Indices from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rather than the currently required indices in the Commodity Series. Use of a different Producer Price Index series requires a change in procedures for determining when market-related contract term additions are needed. In addition to changing the index series, the proposed rule makes technical changes including: Applying the indices on a sale-by-sale basis, based on species and product, rather than a National Forest basis; precluding market-related contract term additions on contracts for sales with a primary objective of harvesting damaged, dead, or dying timber and contracts with provisions for stumpage rate adjustment; and minor changes to clarify or simplify procedures for applying the indices. The intended effect is to grant timber sale contract term additions based on more representative market criteria.