Baker County receiving over $877K in Forest Service SRS payments
By Logan Bagett on Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER COUNTY — Funding has been reinstated, and Baker County will be receiving over $877K in Secure Rural Schools (SRS) support, according to a recent announcement from federal officials.
These will be the first SRS payments Baker County, along with every other rural county in the nation, has received since early 2024. The program was first authored by Oregon’s U.S. Senator Ron Wyden in 2000.
Senators Wyden and Merkley stated in a joint announcement that, “…nearly $49 million in retroactive federal funding from the U.S. Forest Service for fiscal year 2024 will be coming to Oregon counties following the passage of their bipartisan bill late last year to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools program.”
The Senators stated that more funding is likely to come once payments from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are announced.
