May 4, 2022 3:40 a.m.

County Commissioner Tim Freeman is responding to Monday’s announcement of the Bureau of Land Management payment to Douglas County.

Freeman told News Radio 93-9 FM and 1240 KQEN that, “Receipt of the SRS 2021 payment to the O&C and Coos Bay Wagon Road Counties is very welcome funding for counties struggling financially from both the Labor Day 2020 wildfire recovery efforts and COVID-19”.

Freeman is also the president of the Association of O&C Counties.

Freeman said, “The SRS payment also highlights the need for predictable and sustainable local government funding. While the SRS 2021 payment is welcome news, O&C Counties look forward to the BLM completing their draft of a new Resource Management Plan that guides the Agency to properly manage the O&C Lands Base under the ‘sustained yield’ promise as explicitly stated in the O&C Act and ruled and directed by the Federal Circuit Court to do so”.