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Agency says 25 new positions since 2019, many tied to time-limited federal grants
Summary
Danielle Fitskell told the committee the agency added 25 positions since FY19 — 20 are limited-service roles funded largely by federal grants — and described conversions of seasonal park jobs to year-round roles and new survey capacity funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Danielle Fitskell, identified in testimony as "commissioner of Forest Park for Recreation," told the House Agriculture Committee the agency has grown from about 119 year‑round staff in FY19 to roughly 144 today and has added about 25 positions since 2019. "Of those 25 positions, 20 positions are limited service positions," Fitskell said, adding that many were created to implement federal grant work.
Fitskell said forestry programs secured competitive federal awards from the U.S. Forest Service and through Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, totaling "over $10,000,000," and that those grants supported roughly nine new forestry roles, including a climate forester, an invasive‑species/species coordinator and a wildland fire specialist. She said those positions are largely time‑limited and likely to "time out within the next 2 to 4 years." "I can't imagine losing our climate forester or watershed forester," she said.
In state parks, Fitskell said a modernization study found the parks were overly dependent on seasonal staff and the agency converted eight seasonal positions into four classified year‑round roles after legislative approval. In lands administration, the agency added two survey positions by using administrative money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund; Fitskell said the LWCF has begun to provide administration funds and she cited roughly $3,300,000 a year in LWCF-related support.
Committee members asked about federal match requirements and pathways to create permanent classified positions. Fitskell said match rates vary by grant but often include in‑kind match and staff time; she described two routes to add classified positions: seeking an existing vacancy from the HR position pool or requesting positions through the governor's budget and the legislature. She also said roughly 30% of the agency's annual spending now comes from federal dollars and that the agency maintained a $500,000 base allocation in its budget this year.
Representatives pressed on survey capacity and interagency work. Fitskell said the agency will perform surveying and boundary marking when it has capacity, that it has a memorandum of agreement to partner with the Fish & Wildlife Department on some work, and that the agency currently has four survey staff who can assist with partner projects.
The presentation closed with offers to follow up on details and committee members thanked agency staff. No formal actions were taken during the session.
