Idaho Department of Lands outlines wildfire response, timber revenues and Good Neighbor work in annual update

Dustin Miller, director of the Idaho Department of Lands, told the House Research and Conservation Committee on an annual update that the agency manages about 2,500,000 acres of endowment lands and is intensifying wildfire readiness and fuel‑reduction work while continuing timber sales to benefit state endowments.

"We manage 2,500,000 acres," Miller said, and the department distributed a little more than $100,000,000 to endowment beneficiaries in fiscal 2024, including "a little more than $62,000,000 to Idaho's public schools." He said about 92 percent of department revenue is derived from timber sales on roughly 1,000,000 acres of endowment timberland.

The update focused heavily on wildfire preparation and costs. Miller said the department has suppression responsibility on "a little more than 9,000,000 acres of state, federal and private timberlands in Idaho" and reported that within the department's protection boundaries it responded to about 323 fires in 2024 that burned roughly 50,000 acres. He said nearly a million acres burned statewide in 2024, about 80 percent of that on federal lands.

Miller outlined several operational priorities he told lawmakers are part of a longer strategic effort: modernizing compensation and recruitment to retain seasonal and permanent firefighters; enhancing aviation expertise and contracted aviation capacity; expanding early‑detection camera coverage; and using the Good Neighbor Authority (authorized by the 2015 Farm Bill) to accelerate restoration and fuel‑reduction projects on National Forest lands.

"We are required to be aggressive with our initial attack on wildland fires and we go full suppression as long as it's safe," Miller said. He described collaboration under a multi‑party agreement governed by the Stafford Act that defines how state and federal agencies share missions and costs when incidents occur.

Miller said the department is seeking major budget support. He described a governor's budget package that would include a $60,000,000 supplemental to replenish the state's wildland fire suppression account and an ongoing $40,000,000 appropriation to reflect recent average suppression costs. Miller said about $11,000,000 of the department's 2024 fire season costs were reimbursable from federal partners or other states.

Asked about early detection, Miller said the department is expanding a camera network that "in a way it's kind of replacing the old historic lookouts." He described plans to coordinate camera feeds with utilities and other partners and to establish an interoperability committee that shares images and data so the closest responding unit can investigate smoke reports more quickly.

On staffing and retention, Miller described stepped up recruiting and bonuses. He said last year the governor added $1,000,000 for wildfire‑fighter bonuses targeted at hard‑to‑fill positions and returning seasonal firefighters, an incentive Miller said improved retention for particular roles. He also said permanent staff with fire‑line qualifications are used to staff engines when seasonals are short.

Miller also reviewed the department's work with federal partners under Good Neighbor Authority, which uses state contracting capacity and expertise to increase the pace of restoration work on federal lands. He said about 24 percent of Forest Service timber volume sold statewide last year was sold under Good Neighbor Authority arrangements administered by Idaho Department of Lands.

The director stood for questions from representatives about check scaling of logs, the protocols for measuring taper versus cubic volume, staffing levels for engines (he said a target of 75 percent fully staffed engines was unmet and actual staffing was lower), and how the department tallies timber loss from fires and conducts salvage sales. Miller said the department tracks timber losses and moves quickly to offer salvage sales and replant.

The session also included a technical discussion about the department's endowment revenue process. Chris Anton, manager of investments for the Endowment Fund Investment Board, explained the fund structure: there is a permanent corpus that must at least match inflation, and a separate earnings reserve used to smooth distributions to beneficiaries and pay lands and departmental expenses. "The permanent portion of the fund has to grow at the least at the rate of inflation," Anton said, and income from land operations flows into the earnings reserve before distributions are made.

Miller and committee members agreed to follow up on multiple topics, including camera placement, aviation management, detailed staffing metrics and the department's strategic plan for fire services. The department also said it would share the governor's wildfire report and its slides with the committee for further review.

Ending: Miller closed by noting the department would now present several rule dockets to the committee and stood for additional questions before the rules session began.