Budget cuts spark wildfire worries

BOISE — State natural resource leadership made clear Monday the impact of proposed state budget cuts could rear themselves in the near future as the summer months bring both greater engagement in Idaho’s natural resources as well as a heightened risk of wildfire.

Directors for several of Idaho’s key natural resource agencies went before members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Friday, to provide appraisals for the respective budget landscapes of the Idaho Department of Lands and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. In both cases, agency directors said budget cuts bring statewide ramifications. 

The message comes shortly after JFAC set agency maintenance budgets Friday to align with the committee's ongoing 5% budget reductions starting next fiscal year. This will cut most state agency resources for the years to come if the House, Senate and Gov. Brad Little pass the budgets into law.

Among the Friday votes were the state’s Natural Resources departments — which include IDL and DEQ. For IDL, JFAC's vote results in an ongoing reduction of $0.6 million, whereas DEQ will have $1.45 million less in general funds for its operations. In both cases, these cuts will factor into budget-setting beyond the next fiscal year.

In a letter to JFAC last week, Division of Financial Management Administrator Lori Wolff outlined a range of detrimental impacts from the cuts, ranging from reduced educational opportunities in the state to a diminished ability to combat wildfires in the state, the latter of which was a key sticking point for Monday’s meeting.

The cuts to the Department of Lands arrive at the same time the state’s wildfire suppression fund is at a low point. As of Monday, the fund's balance sits at about $2.8 million, down from balances that repeatedly crossed $70 million in recent years, Janet Jessup, principal analyst with the Legislative Services Office, said. 

This is well below both the five-year average for fire suppression costs of $47.2 million and fiscal year 2025's 10-year high of $76.2 million in suppression costs. Though the wildfire fund is able to run a deficit during the fire season, IDL would need to bring forward a supplemental funding request in the next legislative session to right the fund's bottom line, Jessup said.

This could be the case next session as a February update from the National Integrated Drought Information System found the dry conditions in January left much of the western United States with the “worst snowpack in decades.” 

Despite January historically being the snowiest month for Idaho, 68% of the state’s precipitation measuring stations reported being in snow drought and Idaho’s snowpack in particular was reported as being the “lowest in the region,” which includes Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. This deviation from standard snowpack is more pronounced in the Panhandle and southwest portions of the state, both of which are reporting the lowest snow water equivalent levels since 1980, the NIDIS report said.  

While quality snowpack conditions are critical for the state’s agriculture industry, it is also vital in fostering conditions less conducive for fire — with limited snowpack, forestland dries out faster and, in turn, provides greater fuel loads come fire season. 

“We are seeing very little snowpack,” IDL Director Dustin Miller said, “and a lot of us are concerned about what that will mean for fire season.”

Water quality concerns

Director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Jess Byrne described the impact of the cuts approved Friday as continuing a decline in resources at the department’s disposal. Byrne said DEQ has 22 fewer positions compared to the early 2000s due to reductions from the 2008 recession and the anticipated reductions from the cuts approved by JFAC on Friday. 

For the agency, Byrne said this means fewer staff to issue permits for air quality, wastewater disposal and other areas as well as less water quality monitoring, the latter of which has reduced water quality monitoring locations from 500 to 250. 

The public health consequences of limited department resources mean much of Idaho's lakes, reservoirs and waterways are not meeting water quality standards. When measuring by surface area, 53% of Idaho’s lakes and reservoirs and 40% of streams and rivers are not meeting standards, including those for recreation and wildlife.

Byrne said the “three largest” areas not being met are temperature, bacteria and nutrients. If bacteria or nutrient levels are elevated, this can impact recreation on Idaho’s public waters by introducing health issues from ingestion or skin contact with substandard water. With some of Idaho’s surface water also being used as a drinking water source, this means a more rigorous and expensive water treatment is required, but a higher concentration of contaminants makes this treatment less effective, Byrne said.