It’s not outside the realm of reality to say that local government has a lot of moving parts.

Streets. Police. Sanitation. Taxes and spending top the list of what’s become a complicated, almost overgrown process.

Sometimes, it’s been said the task could be overwhelming enough that governing bodies can’t see the forest for the trees.

In Jim Thorpe, though, they’re pondering passing that task off to someone else and allowing an outside firm to manage borough-owned forest land.

Long before coal was king in Carbon County, lumbering led the way as a major source of income for business owners and their employees.

When European settlers arrived, Penn’s Woods covered nearly 90% of the territory.

Hundreds of millions of board-feet of planking and beams harvested from the Great Swamp — to the northeast and just across the Lehigh River of then Mauch Chunk — floated their way south, building and fueling communities in the days before steel.

Even Asa Packer, perhaps the borough’s most famous early resident, saw its value. Trees from the vast forests in the area were used to build arks — canal boats that floated coal to markets and docks to the south.

Local lumber hewn from oak, ash and pine built and supported railroads. Timbers held up ceilings in the area mines, and sawmills often anchored development of towns and villages.

The industry’s expansion fueled jobs that eventually depleted much of that first-growth forest land.

In the early 20th century, focus on the forest turned more toward conservation, and in the meantime, Mauch Chunk turned into Jim Thorpe and tourism took over as the main source of the borough’s income.

And now, the forest land inside the borough’s borders is coming back into play as Jim Thorpe looks to its future.

Borough council recently heard from representatives of Keystone Timber & Forestry, a Union County firm that requested permission to assess forest land inside the borough and craft a proposal to manage trees on borough land for timber harvesting.

Essentially, they asked for permission to look at parts of the borough covered by trees and find ways to manage and sustain their growth, and make some money along the way.

Firm representatives told council they’d assess areas on a tree-by-tree basis, leaving good ones and culling those less desirable.

Keystone would share that information with as many as 80 sawmills, recommending the highest bidder be given a contract to fell and remove those trees.

Over 18 to 24 months, timber workers would harvest the trees under the firm’s supervision.

For their work, Keystone would earn about 15% of the profits the borough realizes.

The idea has been around for a long time.

In Packer Township, for example, the Hazleton City Authority is generating income from a harvesting project on 185 acres it owns off Route 93 in Hudsondale.

Keystone, the firm contacting Jim Thorpe, also deals with timbering land owned by the Lehighton Water Authority.

It’s a common practice all over the commonwealth.

Pennsylvania has 58% of its land covered by forests, with almost 5 million acres owned by federal, state or local governments.

Often, residents will see that land cleared or altered to make way for development.

The Keystone representatives assured council that wasn’t their goal.

Instead, though still in its infancy, the company hopes to foster a long-term relationship that would provide future growth and potential income.

At its last meeting, borough council thought the idea was worth further consideration and gave Keystone the nod to move ahead with its assessment.

Initially, there’s no cost to the borough and the study’s results could open new sources of income to benefit residents.

And maybe let council have someone else mind the forest, so it can stay focused on the trees.

ED SOCHA | tneditor@tnonline.com