Throw enough money into a government program, and soon it looks good for everybody.

That is, arguably, what happened with a U.S. Forest Service program designed to help out timber-dependent counties in Idaho and the rest of the Northwest.

In 2008, Congress decided to restructure the program, passed in 2000 at the urging of former Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Historically, 80 percent of the money went to counties in the Northwest. But the new version of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act divvies up the money with a new funding formula, which shifts a larger share of the money away from the Northwest. (The Associated Press wrote an in-depth analysis about the unabashed politics and the net effect of this shift.)

Certainly, this deviates from the original intent: a federal safety net designed to help Northwest counties make the economic transition away from logging. But because Congress was in a spending mood — lawmakers folded a new and spendier version of the Craig-Wyden bill into the $700 billion bank rescue — Idaho received more dollars.

Here, from the Forest Service, is a breakdown of Idaho's money — including projections through 2011:

2001: 22,833,541

2002: 23,016,209

2003: 23,292,388

2004: 23,595,190

2005: 24,137,879

2006: 24,379,258

2007: 24,329,225

2008: 44,849,983

2009: 40,364,985

2010: 36,328,487

2011: 32,695,638

I don't think the numbers really change our concerns about this program — concerns we raised in an editorial Friday. Idaho counties received a considerable spike in funding, but will receive decreasing dollars for roads and schools. And this program, hijacked for political reasons, still faces an uncertain political future. Idaho's timber counties need to chart a future, and not depend on long-term help from this program.

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