The Bureau of Land Management manages about 2.4 million acres of forest laid out in a checkerboard pattern throughout western Oregon. (Bureau of Land Management/Courtesy Photo)

Columbia County will receive more than half a million dollars in timber revenue from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management this year.

The agency announced that it has distributed more than $27.7 million in timber revenue payments to 18 western Oregon counties — including Columbia County, which has received $565,345.

“These funds will be directed into the county’s general fund, which supports a wide range of essential services and day-to-day operations,” Columbia County spokesperson Mark Pacheco said.

The county’s general fund encompasses services such as the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the local court system, emergency management and more.

The BLM manages about 2.4 million acres of forest laid out in a checkerboard pattern throughout western Oregon. Revenue from timber produced and harvested in these forests has been shared annually between the U.S. Treasury and 18 Oregon counties since 1937.

“We manage more than 2.4 million acres of some of the world’s most productive forests in western Oregon, and are committed to supplying a reliable, secure and resilient domestic supply of timber, while providing jobs and other support to local communities through timber production,” BLM Oregon/Washington State Director Barry Bushue said.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order March 1 to increase domestic timber production, which could result in more logging in BLM-managed forests in Columbia County.

“The BLM is working to protect our national and economic security, as directed in President Trump’s order, by immediately expanding American timber production,” Bushue said.