Kansas wildlife agency seeks $1.9 million reappropriation for dam repairs; committee trims other funds

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks officials told the Legislative Budget Committee on an unspecified date that they are asking the committee to reinstate $1.9 million in state general funds to finish deferred dam maintenance and to restore about $700,000 from the Economic Development Initiatives Fund that the committee’s staff recommended deleting.

"The Legislative Budget Committee recommends proposed cuts to our budget that threaten our ability to conclude dam maintenance projects and fulfill essential operating functions," Barb Albright, chief fiscal officer for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, told the committee. She said the $1.9 million request is a reappropriation of funds originally appropriated in fiscal 2024 and that the agency had already spent about $800,000 preparing work on the dams.

The request targets repairs on low-hazard dams that the agency said have been deferred and require specialized diving consultants to inspect and install inlet plates or plugs. "We are limited to the consultants that we can use, and they have specialty divers," Brett Blackburn, the agency’s chief engineer, said. He said few dive teams perform this work across the Midwest, which lengthened the inspection-and-repair timeline.

Why this matters: agency officials and committee members said deferred maintenance can leave park infrastructure and downstream interests — including roads and homes — at risk if dams fail, and that the work is task-specific and labor-constrained.

Committee action and budget context The legislative staff recommended removing the $1.9 million reappropriation and the roughly $700,000 in EDIF funding; committee staff confirmed the LBC deleted both requests in its recommended budget. Agency officials said the $700,000 EDIF amount was split by program: $400,000 for parks operations and $300,000 for operating expenditures.

Dams, classification and costs Blackburn explained the agency’s request focuses on low-hazard dams not covered by Department of Agriculture grants that target significant- and high-hazard structures. "A high-hazard dam is going to be one that, if the dam breached, there would be a road that would be inundated or there would be houses that could be flooded," he said, adding that hazard classifications are administered by the Department of Water Resources.

Blackburn described the typical repair workflow: divers inspect inlets, measurements are taken, a plate or plug is fabricated and installed, and multiple dives are required. He told members the process requires at least three site visits by divers in many cases. The agency supplied the committee with a list of specific structures it intends to repair and said it would provide cost estimates for each procedure.

Federal and other program notes Committee members also heard that the department expects to pass through a federal endangered-species grant of $4 million to monitor whooping cranes and eastern black rails; agency staff described that as a pass-through monitoring grant rather than habitat construction. The department also has secured a federal grant for the Flint Hills Trail project — roughly $24.3 million in federal funds plus a $3 million state match the agency requested — administered through KDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.

Hunting licenses, revenue and policy follow-ups Representative Roth raised potential lost revenue from limiting nonresident tags, estimating about $11.7 million in unrealized revenue from nonresident tags and preference points. Agency staff said they could not answer immediately and would provide data. The committee asked the agency to have its biologist prepare a memo on the biological and management consequences of issuing more nonresident permits; the agency agreed to provide that analysis to the committee analyst for distribution.

Lifetime and senior licenses Legislative Research staff provided numbers on lifetime licenses through Jan. 6, 2025: 6,288 youth lifetime licenses and 65,726 senior lifetime licenses since those programs began. The committee was told a prior statutory exemption for residents 65 and older had sunset; a bill is being prepared to reinstate that exemption.

Next steps and follow-ups Committee members asked for: a detailed list of the dams and the planned work, cost estimates for each procedure, further revenue analyses on nonresident tags, and a biologist’s report on management impacts. Agency staff said they would supply contact information for follow-up and that legislative staff would distribute requested materials. The hearing adjourned with the committee scheduling additional work on related agencies the following days.