Congress is trying to come up with a way to come up with a better way for rural counties to deal with a cut in timber payments. 60% of the forests in Oregon are owned by the federal government, but only produces 12% of the timber harvest. U.S. Congressman Greg Walden of Oregon testified at the House subcommittee looking at solutions. “But let's get real. These are federal forest counties, the government controls more than half the land and nearly 80% in some counties and the notion that they have the ability to recreate their economies in a decade’s time is absurd. The federal government owns most of the land, but has all but stopped productive forestry on it, is shutting down public access to it, fails largely to produce economic value or renewable energy from it and all too often stands idly by and lets it go up in smoke every year.” According to the forest service, timber harvest from our federal lands nationwide has fallen nearly 80% from 1990.