Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) Director Amanda Kaster gave new and returning committee members a high-level overview of the agency’s duties and recent work.

Kaster said DNRC “manages nearly 5,200,000 surface acres and 6,200,000 mineral acres of state trust lands,” which generate revenue that the agency distributes to public K–12 schools and other institutions. She told the committee that last year trust-land revenue provided about $92,000,000 to public schools, universities and public institutions.

Kaster outlined DNRC’s role in forest health and wildfire response, highlighting the state’s investments to “increase the pace and scale of forest management” after large-scale beetle kill and other disturbances. She noted use of Good Neighbor Authority projects — for example, Basin Creek Watershed near Butte — and said recent technology purchases help detect fires earlier; DNRC kept 95% of fires within its jurisdiction to 10 acres or less last year.

Kaster also described DNRC’s role in distributing pandemic recovery and state conservation funds and cited a $26,000,000 loan DNRC helped secure to repair the Saint Mary’s Canal after a failure that affected drinking water and irrigation on the High Line.

She told the committee that DNRC weighed in on a U.S. Forest Service old-growth plan amendment and said the Forest Service has rescinded that amendment; she said the rescission followed extensive comment and intergovernmental discussions and will be withdrawn in the Federal Register on Jan. 10.

Kaster introduced senior DNRC staff and offered the agency as a resource to legislators through the session and the interim.