What does President Obama's stimulus package mean for people in Idaho and Wyoming's economically distressed timber counties? Not much, some have concluded. In Idaho, the deal was supposed to have provided jobs for 1,200 people in the state's timber counties, but most of those workers will have to wait until next year for their share of the $28 billion in federal stimulus money for forests from the USDA, writes Rocky Barker in the Idaho Statesman. While national forests in Wyoming will soon receive $6.5 million from the stimulus program, Gov. Dave Freudenthal and the state's congressional delegation have complained that the state has received relatively little compared to surrounding states, the Associated Press reports in the Casper Star-Tribune.
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