General fund–state (GFS) spending for the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) has increased substantially since 2017–19. Now, the department is requesting an operating budget increase of 37.2% for 2025–27. Under the request, GFS appropriations would be $475.0 million. (See the box at the bottom of this post for budget and fund terminology.)

New policy items would increase GFS appropriations by $117.6 million in 2025–27 and by $109.1 million in 2027–29. These include:

• $14.3 million in 2025–27 and $17.2 million in 2027–29 to continue to implement the State Wildlife Action Plan, including developing recovery plans and slowing declines in species and habitat loss.
• $17.3 million in 2025–27 and $12.3 million in 2027–29 to hire 20 DFW police officers and six support staff.
• $7.4 million in 2025–27 and $8.5 million in 2027–29 to add staff to respond to negative human-wildlife interactions.
• $9.4 million in 2025–27 and $6.3 million in 2027–29 for a volunteer safety and training program, safety equipment for staff, and safety data management.
• $768,000 in 2025–27 and $768,000 in 2027–29 to continue funding a fish passage strategist position and to add an IT position to “develop and maintain a statewide fish passage prioritization web application using an optimization approach.”

(Previous posts on 2025–27 agency requests are here. Our reports on the projected 2025–27 budget shortfall are here and here.)