77-5-216. Contract harvesting authorized. (1) Under direction of the board and after submitting the various portions of the sale for bid, as described in 77-5-201, the department is authorized to sell timber and forest products from contract harvesting sales through the competitive bidding process pursuant to 77-5-201(1) and (2) and to contract with firms and individuals for the removal of timber and forest products from state trust lands, the preparation of those materials into merchantable form, the transportation of those materials to a point of sale, and other purposes that the department determines to be necessary.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (3), the department may not conduct contract harvesting on state trust lands in an amount greater than 10% of the annual sustained yield.

(3) If the department is addressing forest health concerns as provided in 77-5-217, the department may exceed the annual sustained harvest level by up to 10% using contract harvesting, provided that the contract harvest volume in excess of the annual sustained harvest level contains no more than 25% merchantable sawlog volume.