North Dakota funds Game and Fish work and conservation projects

The law provides $114,864,690 from other funds for the Game and Fish Department’s expenses. The funding covers department staff, operations, habitat work, grants, and other listed programs. One-time items include information technology, dam repairs, equipment, hatchery work, and wildlife habitat and access. The appropriation is from special and federal funds and covers department expenses. The $7,550,200 in listed one-time funding is not included in the department’s base budget for 2027–29. The department must report how it used that money to the next Legislative Assembly’s appropriations committees. The appropriation covers July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027. The department must report on one-time funding to the seventieth Legislative Assembly.

The department may spend up to $2,777,778 on conservation agreements with private landowners. The agreements cover private landowners and money from the land habitat and deer depredation budget line. The agreements are with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for conservation work. Each agreement may last no more than 30 years. If a landowner wants to withdraw some or all leased acreage, the agreement must allow a buyback after 15, 20, and 25 years. The buyback chances must come after the agreement’s fifteenth, twentieth, and twenty-fifth years.

The budget office director must transfer up to $2 million among three department budget lines when the department requests it. This applies to the department’s operating, capital asset, and game and fish grant budget lines. Transfers may be made among operating expenses, capital assets, and game and fish grants. The department must notify the Legislative Council of transfers. The transfer authority applies during the period from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027.

The department may request transfers from the new and vacant jobs pool, but may not spend money directly from that pool. This applies to the new and vacant full-time-equivalent position pool in the department’s appropriation. The department may request that the budget office transfer money from the pool to salary budget lines under the guidelines and reporting rules in House Bill 1015.