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DNR requests staffing, equipment and receipt authority to bolster forestry and wildfire response
Summary
DNR told lawmakers it seeks new positions, statutory receipt capacity and continued funding to maintain fire preparedness, expand forestry infrastructure and reduce reliance on imported firefighting resources.
The Department of Natural Resources outlined expansions in the Division of Forestry and Fire Protection aimed at strengthening wildfire preparedness and forest management, asking for new staff and statutory receipt authority and highlighting a recent uptick in recruitment and training.
Deputy Commissioner Brent Goodrum said the FY26 proposal requests $858,000 in unrestricted general funds for forest management and development, adding three permanent full‑time positions; an additional request would expand statutory designated program receipt authority by $800,000 to accommodate anticipated Denali Commission grants for private‑land forest health work. The division also seeks $1.5 million in statutory designated program receipts to cover revenues earned when partners use the division’s aviation fleet, Goodrum said.
The nut graf: DNR described a two‑track approach — strengthen wildfire response capacity through payroll incentives, training and hiring while expanding forest management to sustain timber sales and economic activity — and presented data showing recruitment improvements after hazard incentive pay was added.
Goodrum said the governor’s 30 percent mission‑critical and hazard incentive pay has helped recruitment: applicants for the division’s three primary crews rose 12‑fold year over year, and vacancies fell 5.2 percentage points from January 2024 to January 2025. The division reported it trained 224 new firefighters at five academies in 2024 and managed 132 permanent seasonal and 88 long‑term non‑perm seasonal wildland fire technicians.
On prioritization and reimbursement, the division reiterated it follows the Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire Management Plan to set suppression priorities and uses state‑to‑state and Northwest Compact agreements to import/export firefighting resources; the Northwest Compact billed and settled more quickly than national arrangements, Goodrum said.
Committee members asked whether restoring a state forester position in Haines adds a second forester or replaces a prior post. Commissioner Boyle said Haines currently has a long‑serving forester and the request is designed both to handle growing workload — including an anticipated “baby brown” timber sale — and to provide overlap for knowledge transfer.
The division also reported outcomes from the 2024 season: about 379 fires burned just under 700,000 acres statewide; aircraft logged more than 1,400 hours and dropped about 250,000 gallons of retardant.
DNR officials said the FY26 governor’s budget would allocate $25.8 million UGF to the fire suppression fund, about 75 percent of what was in FY25 and substantially larger than prior years.
DNR told the committee it will provide additional details on specific staffing and grant matches if requested.
