Montana Code 77-5-219. Contract harvesting account — authorized expenditures — termination
77-5-219. Contract harvesting account — authorized expenditures — termination. (1) An account, called the contract harvesting account, must be created as a subaccount of the trust land administration account established in 77-1-108, in which to deposit gross revenue and for the payment of expenditures associated with contract harvesting sales. All proceeds of the sale of forest products from a contract harvesting sale must be deposited into this account and must be retained in the account to be used to pay for all contract harvesting costs, as provided in subsection (2).
Terms Used In Montana Code 77-5-219
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Contract harvesting: means a timber harvest or timber sale occurring on state trust lands by which:
(a)the department solicits bids and contracts with a firm or individual awarded the bid to:
(i)perform all necessary work to harvest and process trees into merchantable forest products;
(ii)sort trees pursuant to contract specifications and department use standards; and
(iii)transport and deliver the products to forest product purchasers; and
(b)the department sells the forest products to one or more forest product purchasers through the competitive bidding process pursuant to 77-5-201(1) and (2). See Montana Code 77-5-215
- Contract harvesting costs: means expenses related to the production of log sorts or other merchantable products from a stand of timber and the transportation of the products to point-of-sale locations. See Montana Code 77-5-215
- Forest products: means any product produced from the forest that the department can sell through competitive bid or direct negotiation. See Montana Code 77-5-215
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(2)Expenditures may be credited against the account for contract harvesting costs. Personnel services costs for state employees may not be credited against the account.
(3)An amount equal to the contract harvesting costs must be retained in the account and must be deducted from the gross proceeds to determine the net proceeds. The net proceeds from the sale of the forest products must be distributed to the appropriate trust.
(4)An initial account balance must be created by transferring up to $500,000 into the contract harvesting account from the trust land administration account.
(5)If the contract harvesting program is terminated or discontinued for more than 10 years, any balance remaining in the contract harvesting account in excess of $500,000 must be distributed to the appropriate trust. The remaining balance up to $500,000 must be transferred back to the trust land administration account provided for in 77-1-108.