Fish and Game outlines enhancements, Valley Fire rehab and website overhaul to JFAC

The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee received the Idaho Department of Fish and Game's fiscal briefing, which emphasized the agency's reliance on dedicated license revenues and federal grants, one‑time capital requests and habitat restoration spending following the Valley Fire.

Janet Jessup, budget and policy analyst with Legislative Services, summarized the department's funding: Fish and Game receives no general fund support and relies on dedicated revenues such as hunting and fishing license sales and federal grants. She told members the department is allocated about 550 FTP and that personnel costs made up roughly 46% of fiscal 2024 expenditures.

Director Jim Fredericks and administration chief John Oswald explained why the Fish and Game consolidated fund balance appeared to dip in FY 2024. Oswald said the dip was partly ‘‘due to ... getting our arms around federal grant billing’’ and that billing delays in FY 24 were caught up in FY 25; he added that planned FY 26 uses will include one‑time projects such as regional office remodeling and a website overhaul.

On technology, the department requested remote connectivity at several remote hatcheries and wildlife management areas and sought funding for ArcGIS licenses for data mapping. Oswald said the agency worked with ITS on hardware specs and that some point‑to‑point solutions and long spans of land add to per‑site cost. The committee questioned an item labeled "agency website overhaul, phase 2"; Fredericks said phase 1 spent a small portion of an initial $750,000 on discovery and audit work, and that the agency expects the broader package to total about $1.3 million based on comparable state projects.

The department also described work after the Valley Fire east of Boise, which burned about 9,900 acres including part of the Boise River Wildlife Management Area. Fredericks said the immediate rehabilitation cost was expected to be about $750,000 for initial treatments—including seeding and herbicide to reduce noxious weeds—and that longer‑term restoration (sagebrush planting, infrastructure replacement) will raise total costs over multiple years. He said discussions were ongoing with the utility company about a voluntary contribution toward restoration.

Fish and Game asked for $18,184,900 in FY 2026 enhancements, about 88% of which the agency classified as one‑time. Requests included ongoing support for a 25‑year capital lease to secure land and construct a subregional McCall office, seasonal employee pay increases tied to Bonneville mitigation stewardship, and software license and grant‑alignment funds. The governor's recommendation adopted the agency's requested enhancements without deviation.

Fredericks closed by thanking the committee for its consideration; the committee did not take formal votes on the presentation.