Why It Matters

The Good Neighbor Authority (GNA), which lets the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior authorize states, counties, and Tribes conduct land management projects on certain federal lands, is operating at scale. But a new CRS report finds that it is doing so despite unresolved statutory questions about its reach. ​

The Big Picture

The Forest Service (FS) reported 540 GNA agreements in fiscal 2025. About 258 million board feet of FS timber, roughly 9% of the agency's total, was sold under GNAs in fiscal 2024.

A 2024 amendment expanded the authority's definition of federal land to include the National Park System and national wildlife refuge lands, but the report says it is unclear whether the Secretary of the Interior may use the GNA on those lands.

Congress created the Good Neighbor Authority in 2001 as a pilot program for Forest Service lands in Colorado. P.L. 113-79 made the authority permanent for states in 2014, and the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-334) added counties, groups of counties, and federally recognized Tribes as authorized partners.

Partners may conduct commercial timber sales and retain the revenue, which they may use for authorized restoration or recreation services through fiscal 2028. Timber sale revenues under GNAs are not applied to FS or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) revenue-sharing payments.

The Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition stated in 2021 that "counties, for example, have expressed concern that absent Secure Rural Schools or other funding to counties with significant public lands, the return to revenue-sharing from timber payments would be negatively impacted if GNA projects supplant traditional timber sales."

The GNA waives certain FS timber-sale requirements, including the requirement to advertise sales and the requirement for FS personnel to supervise them. BLM policy allows appraisal and minimum-pricing requirements to be waived when a partner sells BLM timber.

The Bottom Line

Open questions for Congress include whether the Interior Secretary may invoke the GNA on National Park System and national wildlife refuge lands, whether the authority permits timber harvesting on those lands, and how timber sale revenues may be applied to recreation projects.

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