Department of Lands asks for staff and program funding as governor recommends large transfers to fire suppression fund

The Idaho Department of Lands told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee it needs additional staff, continued funding for fire and forest programs and clearer long‑term funding for fire suppression as the governor proposed large transfers to the fire suppression deficiency fund and $1 million in firefighter bonuses for Department of Lands personnel.

Janet Jessup, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, said the Department of Lands is one of 20 executive departments established in state law and serves as the administrative arm of the Board of Land Commissioners. She said the department’s budget includes dozens of dedicated funds and that the largest single dedicated fund is the Department of Lands Fund, which receives statutory receipts from multiple sources.

Jessup described the fire suppression deficiency warrant fund, which is continuously appropriated and historically has been prefunded by the legislature since 2015 rather than waiting until deficiency warrants are requested after a big fire season. The governor’s recommendation included transfers the committee heard would bolster that account: a $60,000,000 supplemental transfer for the current year and an additional $40,000,000 transfer from the general fund to the fire suppression deficiency fund, according to the agency’s presentation.

Dustin Miller, director of the Idaho Department of Lands, told the committee the current suppression account balance was about $35.8 million but that the account does not yet reflect many invoices and partner cost shares. “If we do not receive the additional funds that’s being asked for by the governor in our budget, that fund could drop down to about 13,000,000 is what we’re projecting, FY '26,” Miller said. Miller said his staff monitors suppression costs daily during fire season and that reimbursement timing from federal partners varies.

The department requested a set of staffing additions for FY2026 tied to fire program modernization and operational needs. Those requests included positions described in the presentation as a fire emergency support program manager (ongoing $124,700; one‑time $59,700), a fire aviation section manager, a statewide forest assessment program manager, an assistant fire warden for the Ponderosa area, a fiscal financial specialist and a forest program specialist. Jessup’s materials noted six requests for additional FTPs in the department’s FY2026 package.

Timber Protective Associations (TPAs), which the analyst described as quasi‑state entities that fight fires on private forest lands, are funded through assessments and receive money distributed by the Department of Lands. Jessup said the governor recommended providing a 5% compensation‑equivalent CEC to TPAs so their employees are more comparable to state firefighters; those employees are not state employees, so the standard CEC for state employees does not apply to the TPAs. The governor’s recommendation also included $1,000,000 in firefighter bonuses for Department of Lands employees; TPAs sought an additional $250,000 to cover bonuses for their firefighters.

On Good Neighbor Authority (GNA), Director Miller described the program as a state–federal partnership that enables the state to conduct timber sales and restoration on federal lands to increase pace and scale of active management. Miller said the program has generated roughly $40 million to date, with revenues used for personnel, operations, payments to the U.S. Forest Service and restoration contracts. Jessup told the committee that legislative changes have moved GNA funding toward continuous appropriation treatment, meaning some future GNA receipts will not appear as line‑item enhancements on the budget work papers.

Committee members asked about long‑term trends in fire costs and reimbursements. Miller said fire seasons are lengthening and becoming more expensive, that Idaho is largely federally managed (about 63% federal), and that the department and federal partners must prioritize resources in extreme years. He said invoicing and reimbursement with federal partners can be multi‑year and contribute to year‑to‑year volatility in the department’s appropriation and ending balances.

On abandoned mines, Miller said the department faces a large backlog—nearly 9,000 abandoned mines to assess and secure—and that revenues into the abandoned mine fund have not kept pace with the work needed.

Why it matters: the Department of Lands oversees wildfire preparedness and suppression programs, forestry and trust land management; how the legislature funds suppression reserves, staffing and incentives for both state and TPA firefighters affects the state’s capacity to respond to increasingly costly fire seasons.

The committee did not record votes on the items during the hearing. Agency officials and legislators asked for supplemental materials, including historical expenditure trends from the fire suppression deficiency fund and more detail on staffing and assessment maps used to collect timberland assessments.