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Office of Species Conservation describes federal grant flow, trustee payments and concerns about NEPA and sage‑grouse planning
Summary
The Office of Species Conservation briefed the Joint Finance Committee on federal grants flowing through its trustee and benefit payments, a sizeable IIJA federal appropriation that created multi‑year spending patterns, and the office’s concerns about federal NEPA processes and potential shifts under changing administrations.
The governor’s Office of Species Conservation told the Joint Finance Committee the office has grown its federal‑fund activity since 2023 and that a $5 million IIJA allocation in fiscal 2023 produced a pattern of appropriations that the office expects to draw down over multiple years through trustee and benefit payments.
Janet Jessup, Legislative Services analyst, said the office is allocated 16 full‑time positions and in 2025 expended nearly $1.5 million, about 14 percent of its appropriation, on personnel. She said a large share of the office’s fiscal 2023 and 2024 appropriations were federal funds from IIJA and similar grants and that those sums often must be appropriated before related expenditures occur, producing apparent reversions when grants are not yet spent.
Administrator Edmonson of the Office of Species Conservation told the committee the office’s trustee and benefit payments in 2024 were entirely federal funds and listed a trustee and benefit figure of $8,235,900 tied to specific federal grants. The office requested a $30,000 increase to its miscellaneous revenue fund in FY2026 to pursue non‑federal grants and donations; Jessup said the governor’s recommendation did not deviate from the request.
Edmonson also discussed substantive policy headwinds tied to federal processes. He told the committee that National Environmental Policy Act reviews and shifts in federal endangered species rule‑making can create a multi‑year planning ‘‘whiplash’’ when administrations change. "Anytime there's a federal action we have to go through a process of NEPA. And... it can often take 4 years," Edmonson said, adding that Western states are seeking closure on sage‑grouse resource management plans so that land managers and producers know which rules will apply.
Vice Chair Miller and other legislators asked about the office’s future workload and how upcoming administration changes might affect endangered species and habitat planning; Edmonson said the office’s priorities include completing habitat plans and working with federal partners to finalize resource management decisions rather than repeatedly reopening NEPA reviews.
Jessup and Edmonson said the office will provide committee members with the fiscal materials already included in the SharePoint packet and that the office appreciates the fiscal specialist position added by the committee last year that supports federal grant accounting.
