Vermont Forests, Parks and Recreation seeks $54.8M in FY26 to address staffing, infrastructure and visitation pressures

Commissioner Daniel Fitzko, head of the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Feb. 20 that the division is seeking a $54,800,000 FY26 budget to cover rising personnel costs, contracted services and a growth in federal grants.

Fitzko said FPR’s work is broad: "76% of the state is forested. We like to say we're forest strong," and described three programmatic areas—forestry, state parks and lands, administration and recreation—that the department funds. He told the committee Vermont’s 55 state parks welcomed more than a million visitors in recent years and that parks and recreation are a growing economic engine for the state.

The department provided a program-by-program breakdown. Parks account for about $19.2 million (roughly 35% of the division’s budget), forestry about $13.5 million (about 25%), and lands, administration and recreation roughly $18.5 million (about 33%). FPR reported an overall increase of $7.1 million over FY25; the general fund portion of that increase was described as "just north of $1,500,000," with the remaining rise spread across federal, special and interdepartmental funds.

Why it matters: committee members…