Department of Lands budget hearing spotlights fire fund transfers, Good Neighbor Authority and Timber Protective Association pay

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee reviewed the Idaho Department of Lands’ FY2026 budget request and related wildfire and forest-management items, with testimony from Legislative Services and Department of Lands Director Dustin Miller.

Why it matters: the hearing covered funding and staffing for wildfire response and prevention programs that affect state finances, county partners and private forest owners. Committee members pressed the department on the state of the fire suppression deficiency fund, the role and pay of Timber Protective Associations (TPAs), the department’s personnel requests for fire program modernization, and the status of the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) program that coordinates forest work on federal lands.

Department overview and funds: Janet Jessup (Legislative Services) described the department’s structure and fund mix, noting the Department of Lands Fund receives revenue from many sources and that the fire suppression deficiency warrant fund is continuously appropriated (meaning the agency can expend from it without legislative appropriation). She summarized the legislature’s recent practice of prefunding the suppression fund and the governor’s FY2025 and FY2026 transfers.

Governor’s transfers and bonuses: Jessup said the governor recommended a $40,000,000 transfer from the general fund to the fire suppression deficiency fund and a separate $60,000,000 supplemental transfer for the current year. The governor also recommended $1,000,000 in firefighter bonuses for Department of Lands employees; the TPAs later asked the committee to add $250,000 to make bonuses available to TPA-employed firefighters as well.

Timber Protective Associations and CEC parity: Jessup and committee members discussed TPAs, which Jessup described as quasi-state entities that receive funds through the Department of Lands to fight fires on private timberlands. TPAs requested a compensation equivalent to the 5% cost-of-living adjustment (CEC) provided to state employees; Jessup said the TPA employees are not state employees, so the CEC the Legislature passed for state employees does not automatically reach them. The department requested an equivalent personnel CEC for TPAs as an enhancement.

Good Neighbor Authority and timber receipts: Director Dustin Miller described the GNA program as a federal partnership to increase active management and restoration on national forest lands. Miller told the committee the program has generated about $40,000,000 to date, with roughly $18,000,000 identified as G&A timber-sale receipts. He provided a breakdown of how GNA receipts have been used: approximately $5,000,000 for department personnel costs, about $1,000,000 for operating expenses, about $1,000,000 in payments to the Forest Service, and about $6,000,000 for restoration contracts and NEPA planning.

Fire fund balance and reimbursements: Miller said the suppression account balance was roughly $35,800,000 at the time of testimony but cautioned that outstanding invoices and cost-sharing could exhaust those funds; he projected the balance could fall to roughly $13,000,000 if the governor’s supplemental were not provided. He also said invoicing and reimbursement from federal partners can take multiple years and that an electronic fire business billing system is expected to help speed payments.

Personnel, requests and mitigation: the department asked for multiple personnel additions to strengthen coordination, aviation oversight, statewide forest assessment and district-level staff to improve preparedness and collections for the department’s assessment accounts. Jessup noted six requests for new FTEs in FY2026; the department tied those requests to an ongoing fire program modernization effort and recommendations of the governor’s wildfire roundtable.

Abandoned mines: committee members asked about the abandoned mine lands (AML) fund; Miller said the state has thousands of abandoned mines (testimony cited nearly 9,000 sites) and that AML funding had not kept pace with the closure and remediation workload.

No formal committee action or vote on the department’s requests was recorded in the hearing transcript; committee members asked follow-up questions and the department stood ready to provide more detail as deliberations continue.