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DNR budget update: modest gains for parks and forestry, staffing and PFAS funding remain gaps
Summary
Department staff told the Natural Resources Board the 2025–27 biennial budget included wage adjustments and one-time park and forestry funds but left major requests — including stewardship reauthorization, access to the PFAS trust and long-term LTE funding — unmet, and eliminated 20 vacant positions concentrated in environmental management.
Department of Natural Resources budget director Maggie Hutter briefed the Natural Resources Board on Aug. 13 on how the recently enacted 2025–27 biennial budget affects agency programs, describing a mix of targeted one-time grants, modest revenue changes and several unmet requests.
The board heard the budget includes general wage adjustments of 3% in fiscal year 2026 and 2% in fiscal year 2027 that went into effect in September, and that parks received modest fee increases for nonresident admission, nonresident camping and electric campsites. Parks also received one-time operational authority tied to the additional fee revenue and $3.8 million per year for capital backlog projects; a site-specific $6 million appropriation was assigned to Kenosha Dunes restoration.
Forestry gained one-time funding for wildfire suppression supplies, $460,000 for invasive-pest response and $1 million in grants for an industry strategic planning process, but most of those increases were one-time allocations rather than ongoing funding streams. Hutter said the Fish and Wildlife account did not receive new license-fee increases; instead, the legislature transferred $30 million from the forestry account over the biennium to bridge a portion of the Fish & Wildlife shortfall.
On unmet items, Hutter told the board the governor’s stewardship reauthorization did not survive the legislative process. "Stewardship is scheduled to expire next July, so we do have a year to hopefully find a path through separate legislation to renew the stewardship program," she said. The legislature also did not provide the department access to a previously established PFAS trust fund; Hutter said the $125 million originally put in that fund remains inaccessible without further legislative action.
The budget eliminated 20 vacant positions — mostly in the Environmental Management division — which Hutter said reduces capacity even if no current employees are laid off. She explained that vacant positions are sometimes taken away by the legislature and that the effect is reduced program output, longer permitting timelines and less monitoring capacity over time.
Board members pressed on federal funding uncertainty and on whether license-fee adjustments or a habitat stamp could help fill gaps. Hutter said the department was awaiting a Legislative Audit Bureau review of the Fish & Wildlife account and that a favorable audit may help lawmakers consider fee changes. She also briefed the board on several grant earmarks placed in the budget for site-specific contamination remediation and local projects and noted $730 million in revenue bonding authority for safe drinking water and clean water revolving loan funds.
What it means: the budget provides some one-time resources for targeted projects and modest fee changes for parks, but does not resolve structural funding gaps for habitat, Fish & Wildlife operations and long-term staffing needs. The department will continue to seek legislative solutions for stewardship, PFAS trust access and fee adjustments.
