Department of Lands seeks staff and one‑time funding as committee discusses fire suppression fund, timber protective associations and Good Neighbor Authority

The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Oct. 24 reviewed the Idaho Department of Lands’ fiscal 2026 budget and several fire‑related funding issues, including the fire suppression deficiency warrant fund, payments to Timber Protective Associations (TPAs), and the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) program.

Janet Jessup, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, described the Department of Lands as one of Idaho’s 20 executive departments and said its budget includes multiple dedicated funds. "The largest of the dedicated funds is the Department of Lands Fund," she said, adding the department’s receipts come from many statutorily directed sources. Jessup told the committee the fire suppression deficiency warrant fund is continuously appropriated, has been prefunded by the legislature since 2015 and functions like a special reimbursement account for catastrophic fire costs.

Jessup summarized the governor’s recommendations affecting the department: a proposed $60 million supplemental transfer from the general fund into the fire suppression deficiency fund for the current year and a proposed $40 million transfer from the general fund into that fund for FY 2026. She also said the governor’s recommendation included a 5 percent compensation equivalent (CEC) for Timber Protective Associations and recommended $1 million in firefighter bonuses limited to Department of Lands employees; the TPAs later requested an additional $250,000 to make bonuses available to TPA employees as well.

Dustin Miller, director of the Department of Lands, told the committee the department is seeing more complex fire seasons and that reimbursements from federal partners sometimes lag. He described the GNA program, which contracts with the U.S. Forest Service to increase timber sales and restoration work on federal lands, as largely self‑funded through timber receipts; he said roughly $40 million has been generated through GNA activity to date and that GNA receipts have supported personnel and restoration contracting. Miller said the department has agreements with six of Idaho’s seven national forests and that through GNA last year Idaho executed a sizable share of the Forest Service timber volume in the state.

Committee members pressed department staff about multiple topics: Senator Wintrow asked for a plain‑language description of GNA spending; Representative Miller and others asked about timing of reimbursements for suppression costs from federal partners and whether this year looks atypical; Senator Carlson asked whether firefighting costs are trending upward beyond inflation; and Representative Mitchell asked about mitigation strategies for districts that saw heavy fire activity this year. Miller said fire seasons are longer and more expensive, driven by climate and development at the wildland‑urban interface, and that the department is pursuing mitigation through shared stewardship, GNA and other restoration programs.

Jessup also described line‑item requests in the Department of Lands budget. The department requested several additional FTPs for fiscal 2026, including 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 specialist, and other forest program staff. Jessup said the department’s 2026 request included roughly $5.7 million in line‑item enhancements, about 79 percent of which were one‑time items, and that many of the larger increases in prior years reflect federal funds tied to firefighter pay, wildfire reduction projects and abandoned‑mine remediation.

On Timber Protective Associations, Jessup explained TPAs are quasi‑state entities that receive assessments collected from private forest landowners under Idaho statutes; those assessments fund TPA fire protection. The department requested CEC‑equivalent funds for TPAs because TPA employees are not state employees and therefore do not automatically receive the state CEC passed for state workers.

Several committee members asked about the abandoned mines fund, and Miller said the department continues to prioritize mine closures but that funding has not kept pace with the number and cost of projects.

No formal votes were taken during the hearing on Department of Lands matters; committee members requested additional data including historical suppression expenditures and follow‑up on reimbursement timing and abandoned‑mine funding.