Danielle Fitsco, commissioner of the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR), and Ansley Bloomer, the department’s finance and administration director, presented the agency’s budget overview and answered legislators’ questions.

Fitsco said the department’s proposed budget is about $54.8 million overall, "which is an increase of about 7%." She told the committee the increase largely reflects salary and benefits pressures, higher operational costs for state parks and additional federal funds for land acquisition and resilience projects.

Bloomer explained that roughly one-third of FPR’s budget comes from federal sources, including the U.S. Forest Service, Land and Water Conservation Fund, Federal Highway Administration recreation trails funds, the Northern Border Regional Commission, ARPA and FEMA flood recovery grants. Bloomer said FPR currently has a federal portfolio of nearly $50,000,000 in awards, of which roughly $38,000,000 remains unexpended across multi-year projects.

The presentation highlighted that state parks account for about $19,200,000—roughly 35% of the department’s budget—and that lands administration and recreation pass-throughs account for a large share of land-acquisition and municipal grant activity. Fitsco noted the department is managing 12–15 potential land acquisitions and that many of the acquisitions use a mix of federal funds and state matching funds.

Committee members raised questions about operating pressures: rising waste removal costs at parks, firewood and ice sales, visitor counts that have approached about 1 million annually, and the department’s capacity to absorb budget pressures due to constrained operating funds. Fitsco said staff capacity is limited and that the agency is pursuing efficiency improvements, including a review of land-acquisition procedures and district stewardship planning.

The department also flagged federal uncertainty: recent cancellations and 90-day pauses of some Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)‑related awards at the national level have affected expected community grants, including canceled urban-forestry grants the Arbor Day Foundation had planned to pass through to Vermont communities.

Ending: Fitsco offered to return for follow-up questions; legislators requested additional breakdowns of general‑fund exposure across program areas and asked the department to notify the committee if federal awards were at risk of cancellation.