Forest Service demands states return timber money, blames sequester

Many timber-heavy states depend on logging for revenue, including a hefty share of money generated from logging on federal lands. But the U.S. Forest Service is asking those states to return 5 percent of the checks they just received and blaming sequestration.

The Forest Service in March ordered 41 states to return a total of $17.9 million. Oregon, which gets the biggest chunk of federal timber money at $63 million, now owes almost $3.6 million of it back.