DES proposes to centralize wildlife reviews, raise permit fees and narrow timelines in HB 1/HB 2 package

Department of Environmental Services officials told the House Finance Division I committee that a package of changes in House Bill 1 and House Bill 2 would move most wildlife and natural‑heritage review work into DES, raise several permit fees and create faster permitting clocks and a two‑tiered review path for some projects.

"Sections 2 through 5... are going to be realigning some of the state agencies to make permitting a little bit quicker. They have a 60 day clock that they want to try to get to, and this is one of the ways that they're attempting to do that," Assistant Commissioner Adam Crapo said as he introduced the proposal on behalf of DES.

Why it matters: DES said centralizing the Natural Heritage Bureau (NHB) reviews and the Fish & Game desktop reviews into DES would let applicants get a single environmental review instead of seeking separate letters and recommendations from multiple agencies. DES also told lawmakers it needs stable funding to staff the unit that would handle the incoming workload; the department proposed increasing wetlands and other permit fees and creating a permit‑by‑notification (PBN) option for smaller alteration‑of‑terrain projects so fees would cover the added positions.

What DES described - Positions: The department said HB 1 and HB 2, as proposed, would move positions now housed at New Hampshire Fish and Game and at the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) into DES. During the hearing DES staff said the department requested a technical correction that would move three (3) positions from Fish and Game (rather than four) and two (2) positions from DNCR, plus a new supervisor position to manage an endangered species/reviews unit.

- Function: Phil Trowbridge, who runs DES’s Land Resource Management Bureau, described the work as primarily "desktop" reviews and coordination—checking the Natural Heritage Database (NHB), advising applicants about mitigation, and incorporating recommendations into DES permits—rather than the field‑survey work done by Fish & Game or DNCR biologists.

- Timing and process: Crapo said the governor’s proposal aims for a 60‑day statutory review clock for covered DES…