Oregon Public Broadcasting

A Washington lawmaker is questioning payments to a church and other non-profit organizations out of an environmental protection fund.

The original aim of the program was to compensate small timberland owners who faced state limits on what trees they could cut down.

But it turns out hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars went to property owners whose main business is not logging.  Austin Jenkins has details.

The cash-for-conservation program was created in 1999. The idea was to offset the financial impact of new laws that restricted logging along streams and near wetlands.

The money was supposed to be targeted to small timberland owners. They were the ones disproportionately affected by the new environmental restrictions.

But somewhere along the way the first-come, first-serve program took a detour.

State Senator Karen Fraser, a Democrat, is questioning nearly $800,000 in payments to non-profit groups.

Karen Fraser: "This included $350,000 for a youth recreation organization paid to not cut down trees at kids campgrounds. That's not really what this program is supposed to be about. We have other programs for that. There was $81,000 to an archery club not to cut down trees at their shooting range."

And the list goes on. Senator Fraser has introduced a bill to reform the payment program. Currently, the program isn't funded because of the state's budget crisis.

The $800,000 in questionable payments is out of roughly $20 million in total payouts.