Department of Lands seeks staff and one-time spending; governor proposes large transfers to fire-suppression fund

The Idaho Department of Lands told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Thursday that the agency needs additional staff and one-time funding for fire response, forest assessment and equipment as wildfire costs and program responsibilities have grown.

Janet Jessup of the Legislative Services Office walked the committee through the Department of Lands' budget and clarified that the agency operates a mix of appropriated and continuously appropriated funds, including a fire suppression deficiency warrant fund that agencies may spend from without a regular appropriation.

Director Dustin Miller described a multi-pronged need: modernization of the department's fire program, more aviation capacity, and expanded forest-assessment work to identify lands subject to industry assessments. "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 for FY '26," Miller said, referring to the department's suppression account balance and projected invoices.

Miller told the committee the governor's recommendation included large transfers intended to bolster the suppression fund: a $60 million supplemental transfer in the current year and an additional $40 million transfer to the fire suppression deficiency fund, as well as a $1 million firefighter bonus for Department of Lands employees. The department's presentation said the governor's package would lift the fund balance substantially compared with current projections.

Timber Protective Associations, quasi-state organizations that contract for fire protection on private forestlands, told the committee they were not included in the governor's $1 million firefighter bonus. The TPAs asked the committee to provide an additional $250,000 so TPA-employed firefighters would receive parity with Department of Lands employees. Committee members and staff clarified that TPA employees are not state employees, so they do not receive a general CEC; the governor recommended a separate 5% CEC-equivalent adjustment be provided specifically to TPAs.

Jessup said the department requested approximately $5.7 million in budget enhancements for a mixture of ongoing and one-time items; she told the committee that roughly 79% of the department's enhancement package is one-time funding. The enhancement requests include a fire emergency support program manager, a fire aviation section manager, a statewide forest assessment program manager, an assistant fire warden for the Ponderosa area, a fiscal financial specialist and other positions.

Miller described the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA), a federal partnership the state uses to increase restoration on national forest lands, as largely self-funded by timber-sale receipts generated by GNA activity. "We are now generating enough income in the program through the timber sales off of federal lands... About $40,000,000 is what's been generated to date," Miller said, and he outlined how GNA receipts have been used for personnel, operating costs, payments to the Forest Service and restoration contracts.

Committee members asked for historical fire cost data and about the timing of reimbursements from federal partners; Jessup said LSO can supply historical suppression spending, and Miller said federal invoicing can lag, sometimes stretching reimbursements into subsequent years. Miller said the department is implementing an electronic fire business system to improve invoicing and payments.

On abandoned mines, Miller said the scale of the problem is large: the department is responsible for closing and securing nearly 9,000 abandoned mines statewide and that existing abandoned-mines revenue has not kept pace with that need.

No formal committee vote was recorded during the hearing. Several legislators asked for additional detail and follow-up documents, including multi-year fire suppression expenditures and documentation about GNA revenues and county impacts.