77-5-207. Salvage timber program. (1) The department shall establish a salvage timber program that provides for the timely salvage logging on state forests of dead or dying timber or timber that is threatened by insects, disease, fire, or windthrow. In managing the harvest of salvage timber, the department shall consider:

(a) the economic value of the timber to be salvaged;

(b) the cost of salvage efforts; and

(c) the long-term costs to all forest resources from insects, disease, or fire that otherwise might be controlled through salvage operations.

(2) The department shall, to the extent practicable, harvest dead and dying timber before there is substantial wood decay and value loss.

(3) The department may sell salvage timber pursuant to this part.

(4) The department's salvage timber program may not take precedence over the timely sale and harvest of green timber.