Latest news with #DepartmentofNaturalResourcesandConservation
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Audit report suggests changing wildfire protection fee structure
The Big Knife Fire outside of Arlee, Montana, on the afternoon of Sunday, July 30, 2023. (Photo by Nicole Girten, Daily Montanan) Landowners in Montana are not paying their fair share of wildfire costs to the tune of at least $30 million, according to a new report from the Legislative Audit Division. An audit of the state's Wildfire Assessment Program found problems with the funding structure for fighting wildfires and made suggestions to the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the Legislature to overhaul the system. The Wildfire Assessment Program is overseen by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Fees are assessed to some property owners in high-risk fire areas, but the report noted the state gives an 'estimated annual subsidy of over $30 million' to private landowners. It said the payment split in Montana is more than six decades old, and not at all even, with landowners are paying just 10% of fire costs. Best practices, which the report based on extensive interviews and document review, would have them paying more than 90%. Montana spent more than a half billion dollars on fire suppression from 2002 to 2023. Suppression is one of three wildfire activities in which the state partakes — mitigation and readiness are also places where it spends money on fires. In 2023, for example, the state spent $41 million on fires — $4.5 million on attempts to mitigate risk and damage from fires, $13.5 million on capacity and ability to dispatch firefighters and then $23.1 million on actual suppression efforts. Landowners do not pay the state for suppression efforts. The report suggested some fixes, including shifting the burden of wildland fire protection to those who live in the most dangerous areas. Statewide, landowners paid just $4.3 million on wildfire protection fees in 2023. Their cost is also calculated out of the 'readiness' portion of money spent on fires, not mitigation or suppression. This categorization leads to issues, the report noted. 'Applying the proportions to the readiness budget instead of total wildfire protection decreases the amount landowners are responsible for paying and increases economic inefficiency,' the report stated. The DNRC said it has 'historically excluded' response and suppression efforts from its definition of 'wildland fire protection,' whereas the report's findings look to combine preventative measures with active firefighting where funding is concerned. DNRC director Amanda Kaster said in a letter in response to the audit that it 'proposes a significant philosophical shift' in the state fire program's funding structure. The report also suggested the agency isn't always following statute, while the DNRC said it interprets the laws differently. 'The Montana Legislature and stakeholders have confirmed and reinforced this distinction since the creation of the fire suppression fund in 2007, which is designated primarily for wildland fire suppression activities,' Kaster wrote in response to the audit. 'In contrast, the program base budget for wildland fire protection work has been widely understood to be intended for conducting work related to preparedness. The audit report fails to recognize this distinction and risks misrepresenting the DNRC's efforts to comply with statute.' This matters for landowners, because the report makes a case they should be paying for more than preemptive mitigation. The report said best practice would be for private landowners to pay 92% of wildfire suppression, readiness and mitigation costs. That number is currently about 10% and does not include suppression. According to the report, applying state law as written would ask landowners to completely cover mitigation efforts, which would increase landowner contribution to 33% of wildfire cost. Kaster asked for clarification from the legislature on several terms, including 'annual operation assessment plan,' 'fire protection costs,' and 'state's portion of the cost.' She also said it was the Legislature's job to make decisions about what people are paying, not the DNRC. 'The DNRC does not believe it is our responsibility, nor do we have the appropriate standing, to make recommendations on how or why the cost burden of the program is shared amongst Montanans,' Kaster wrote. 'Ultimately, it is the legislature that chooses how to fund this work, and it is our obligation to respond to wildfires on behalf of the State of Montana.' Kaster also noted an upcoming wildland firefighting study, passed as House Bill 70 this session, will lead to 'further clarification' and funding expectations. Fees collected from property owners come mainly from fire protection districts, where residents who contribute get a more direct response. Some property owners within these districts are required to pay — according to the report, it's a $50 per-owner, per-district charge, and then a $0.30 per-acre charge for each acre owned in a district more than 20 acres. However, Gov. Greg Gianforte recently signed HB 421. That legislation increased fire protection fees for land classified as forest from $50 to $58.70 for each landowner; for those with more than 20 acres of land, there's an additional fee per acre that increased from $0.30 to $0.49. The process for deciding who has to pay is complex and is maintained by one full-time staffer with assistance from two other DNRC employees and a seasonal intern, the audit report noted. It went on to say the Fire Assessment Programs manual is also outdated, employees don't understand technical aspects of the fee program software code, and if the department lost employees who work in the program, they would be difficult to replace. 'Department staff spend significant time manually reviewing and updating information as part of the fee assignment process,' the audit noted. 'Department staff stated they cannot determine if a fee should be assigned to over 2,000 properties each year due to a lack of time to review the properties and a lack of updated property data.' The current split for fire protection costs is based on a 1958 national study by the Battelle Memorial Institute. Beyond being six decades old, it did not account for individual states, meaning what Montana is using to calculate the share isn't even based on data unique to the state. 'Recommendations include recalculating the public and private funding share, clarifying statute, and establishing a fee structure informed by cost and wildfire risk data, and improving data practices to help determine efficient funding and areas of elevated wildfire response,' the audit report stated. According to an Oct. 2024 presentation from the Legislative Fiscal Division, about 63% of all homes in Montana are in the wildland urban interface, a term used to describe high fire danger areas where natural land and housing meet. About 1.5% of Montana falls within the area considered the wildland urban interface. The presentation noted this was not the best way to assess fire risk in Montana, but did not specify why. The DNRC has the direct responsibility of protecting about 5 million acres of land in Montana. Additionally, the state also shares responsibility — primarily with local governments — for an additional 55 million acres, while the federal government is the primary responder for 33 million acres. Montana is slightly more than 94 million acres in total. FINAL-23P-06-Fire-Protection
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
State wildfire briefing indicates fire season ‘could be significant'
DNRC Type 5 engine on the Banana Lake Fire. (Photo from Inciweb) With one fire blowing up over the weekend and an expected worse-than-average wildfire season across Montana, Gov. Greg Gianforte touted the efforts of the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, saying they've been able to keep 95% of wildfire starts to 10 acres or less since 2021. During an annual state fire briefing on Monday, he also recognized the 'proactive preparation, coordination and teamwork' he said was needed to keep people safe. The state has seen an early start to its fire season. Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Director Amanda Kaster said her agency is 'more prepared than ever' and thanked the legislature for the passage of wildfire bills during the session. 'The state of Montana and DNRC is prepared for the 2025 fire season, not only through our fire protection program, but through the work we do to reduce wildfire risk across Montana's landscapes,' Kaster said. The briefing also included a long-term weather forecast from Northern Rockies Coordination Center meteorologist Dan Borsum who said computer projections are calling for a dry and hot summer. He also said some weather patterns are similar to high fire danger years in the past – like 2000, 2002, 2006, 2017 and 2021. There's worry about drought impacting large portions of Montana and melted-out snowpack that places higher elevations at increased risk for fire, all of which could stretch resources. 'The multi-year deficits of moisture are starting to hurt us, the overall warm and dry summer forecast, and the fact that we may have fire on the landscape when the wind season approaches in September, because we didn't get that monsoon infusion,' Borsum said during the briefing. 'That has me very concerned that this fire season could be significant.' According to Montana has a higher risk of wildfires than 74% of states in the U.S. Additionally, Wildfire Risk reports more than half of all homes in Montana are at high risk of 'direct exposure,' which the organization defines as homes that 'may be ignited by adjacent vegetation, flying embers, or nearby structures.' A report in Government Technology this week also put Ravalli County among the highest risk for wildfire of any county in America. It said 99% of homes in the county are at 'high risk of wildfire exposure.' Fire experts say building homes out of nonflammable materials and designing them in ways that downgrade fire risk are critical to saving property. Additionally, land management practices like controlled burns, logging thinning operations and homeowners clearing brush from structures can prevent damage and make firefighters' jobs a little easier. Officials with the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among other land management agencies, spoke at the briefing. Several agencies shared difficulties in hiring firefighting staff for the season, but highlighted their fuels and forest management programs aimed at limiting fuels for wildfires. The Forest Service said they conducted hazardous fuels reduction work on 200,000 acres of Montana forest in 2024, the BLM conducted approximately 38,000 acres of prescribed burns last year, the Forest Service while Fish and Wildlife Service said they burned around 11,000 — an outsized number given the agency's small land presence in the state. Some fire scientists have said prescribed burns are ineffective because of their relatively small scale. While fire prevention was part of the discussion, so was fighting fire — something being talked about at the national level, too. In Washington, D.C. this week, U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Montana, helped push a bipartisan wildfire bill through Congress. The Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act passed through both chambers and is headed to President Donald Trump's desk. The bill reauthorizes the sale of both airplanes and parts from the Department of Defense for aerial firefighting efforts. Sheehy founded a company that provides aerial firefighting services. 'Eliminating bureaucratic obstacles to fight wildfires more quickly and aggressively is America First common sense, and I appreciate my colleagues in the House and Senate for their support,' Sheehy said in a press release. 'I look forward to seeing this bipartisan bill cross the finish line so we can better support the brave first responders on the front lines fighting wildfires across the country.' Banana Lake update As of Wednesday, the Banana Lake fire near Plains was listed at 929 acres and 15% containment. Nick Holloway with the Western Montana All Hazards Incident Management Team and spokesperson for efforts on the fire said that four structures had been protected. He also added crews were in the process of mop-up operations, though the situation has been complex. Crews had to deal with seven spot fires on Tuesday, which Holloway said had been a 'huge concern,' though firefighters had contained those blazes. Additionally, the edge of the fire is a mix of burned and unburned materials, a situation they call a 'dirty burn.' It means there's more potential for spotting, which is the process in which sparks and embers get carried by the wind into unburned fuel. 'There could be a spark in one of those unburned pockets, and it's close to the edge,' Holloway said. 'And so during the mop-up efforts, they're going through that, gridding the area to look for residual sources of heat and extinguish them. But it takes a lot longer when you have that dirty burn than when you have a nice, clean edge.' Holloway said the Banana Fire represents a relatively early start to Montana's fire season, and cautioned that the state could be in for a long year. 'Predictive Services has told us it's going to be dry and warm, more so than normal,' Holloway said. 'So that's going to be problematic for this fire season.'
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Banana Lake fire near Plains expands to 850 acres
The Banana Lake Fire is pictured on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (Inciweb photo) An 850-acre wildfire exploded in size on Sunday about four miles north of Plains. The Banana Lake fire was discovered on Saturday and prompted a significant response from firefighting officials. As of Monday, 17 engines, two helicopters, two hand crews, a hotshot crew and three bulldozers are all assigned to the fire. The Western Montana Type 3 Incident Management Team, led by Ken Parks — the deputy director of the Missoula County Emergency Management Department — assumed command of the incident on Monday. Firefighters were busy over the weekend with structure protection. (Information on what structures were being protected was not immediately available.) The fire started near Locust Hill in Plains and is burning along Highway 28 near Rainbow Lake. Fueling the fire is open timber, and a 'full suppression response' is being implemented per the fire's Inciweb situation report. Fire officials asked the public to stay away from the area. The state's Department of Natural Resources and Conservation media liaison listed for the fire did not immediately return a request for comment. Montana could be gearing up for a long fire season. National Interagency Fire Center maps predict 'greater than usual' likelihood of significant wildfires for half of the state by July and nearly all of it come August. 'Wildfires are a reality in Montana each year, but thanks to increased funding and innovative technology, DNRC is more prepared than ever before to respond quickly and effectively,' Gov. Greg Gianforte said in a press release last week. 'While our teams are equipped and ready to protect homes and communities in the event of wildfire, we also need every Montanan to take simple steps to join us in our efforts to keep our state safe.' Gianforte signed two wildfire bills earlier this month, while vetoing two others that would have impacted local fire departments. How wildfires are to be fought is also a major topic both at the federal level and in the court system. The state has already had several early season wildfires, including one near Wisdom that ended up burning more than 2,000 acres. According to Montana Fire Info, nearly 350 fires have burned in the state this year so far. Rural firefighters throughout the state are starting to see things dry out. That includes Missoula Rural Fire District Lt. Phillip Mediate during an interview with the Daily Montanan regarding unseasonably warm temperatures over the weekend. 'We've had a pretty good wet spring,' Mediate said on Saturday morning. 'We're starting to see the spike in temperatures now. I think the fire danger has moved to moderate, just in the last couple of days, so we're starting to see those grasses dry out … we're starting to head into that season.'
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Burn permits required for spring burning season in Lincoln Co.
May 2—LIBBY — Starting Thursda 1, Lincoln County residents are required to obtain a burn permit for all residential yard cleanup burning through June 30. Permits are free and can be obtained or renewed online through the Montana Burn Permit and Notification Service at: Once a permit is secured, it must be activated each day burning is conducted, either online or by phone at 406-283-2442. Debris burning is a great way to clear dead vegetation and reduce fire hazards around your home and property. However, debris burning remains one of the leading causes of human-caused fires in northwestern Montana. To ensure your burn doesn't become the next wildfire, take the necessary precautions: — Check the local spot weather forecast before you begin burning. Pay close attention to wind conditions for both the day of and day after your burn. — Burn early in the day, when humidity is higher. — Keep burn piles small, manageable, and attended at all times. — Do no burn garbage, plastic or treated wood as they release toxic chemicals into the air. — Have adequate tools and water supply on site, such as a charged hose, buckets, and shovel. — Check the area the next day to ensure no hot spots remain, especially in tree roots and stumps. — If your burn escapes control, call 911 immediately. For seasonal burn schedules, air quality information, and agency contact information, visit The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation urges the public to do their part in preventing wildfires this spring. For more information on fire prevention and preparedness, visit
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State puts plot of land in North Kalispell up for lease
Mar. 28—The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is putting a 25-acre tract of State Trust Land up for lease in North Kalispell. The Moraine Parcel is wedged between Stillwater Road and the U.S. 93 Bypass, north of Four Mile Drive. Because it is located on School Trust Land, the lease fees paid for use of the land will go toward funding Montana K-12 schools. The property is valued at $2.8 million, with a minimum lease rate of $140,000 annually. The state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation released a request for proposal on the property, which will remain open for 90 days. All responses must be submitted by June 24. The parcel exists within the named Section 36 plot of land, which the department received at statehood to generate revenue for Montana's public schools. "And so, the city of Kalispell has really just grown around it," said Kari Nielsen, a land use planner for the state agency. Since 2005, the department has been leasing off sections of the property, which became the Spring Prairie Planned Unit Development. The Spring Prairie shopping center, Glacier High School and the Kidsport Complex all sit on the land easement. When the property was once designated for agricultural uses, it only generated around $5,000 a year for public schools, according to Nielsen. But since the land began being leased off for commercial use, the property generates close to $1 million annually. Gov. Greg Gianforte's office announced last year that State Trust Land revenue generated $92 million for public schools in 2024. The newest parcel up for grabs and one of the last still vacant on the Spring Prairie development is zoned R-4, residential, which allows for single-family housing, duplexes and townhouses. Nielsen says that the planned unit development on the property should provide some flexibility on what can be developed. "The property is located in an area experiencing a high level of growth with multiple parcels transitioning from large agriculture and low-density residential parcels to higher density and mixed-use developments," read the request for proposal. The recently built Stillwater Apartments sit across the street from the property, with the Bloomstone subdivision and Starling Community development also nearby. Any subdivision proposal for the property must still go before Kalispell City Council for review. Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and junderhill@
