An estimated $5 million shortfall in the fiscal year 2008 Department of Natural Resources Forestry Division account has officials looking for ways to stretch pennies into the second half of the state budget biennium.

"It's a theme that we see happening in other general accounts as well, in terms of revenues not meeting expectations," said Paul DeLong, Division of Forestry administrator and chief state forester. Revenues for the account are based on property values, which have been declining over recent years.

Mr. DeLong reported in May to the Council on Forestry that he had received word from the Department of Administration of a sizeable projected shortfall. The exact amount won't be known until later this fall when accounting is finished for the fiscal year ended June 30.

Mr. DeLong said programs targeted for cuts include conservation aid programs such as the Wisconsin Forest Landowner Grant Program which might lose as much as $500,000 in funding.

"We aren't going to eliminate the whole program. We're just going to reduce the amount available," Mr. DeLong said.

Fire control revenues will be shifted to federal funding sources, and a weather forecasting project will be put on hold.

Selected elements of other programs will be affected, such as heavy equipment purchases, data evaluation for the annual forest inventory, Karner blue habitat conservation projects, master woodland workshops, Basin Educator projects, contracted technical WFLPG support for Priority 2 activities, aerial photography projects, support funding for all Division of Forestry personnel, biotic inventory work on state lands and invasive species monitoring.

"We're not ending these programs. We're simply foregoing them for a period of time," Mr. DeLong said.

The lapse plan doesn't include any layoffs, but 20 Division of Forestry jobs will be held open.

"We don't want to rely just on salary savings, because we don't feel that's the best way to do customer service," he said.

Not affected are fire suppression, partnership work on county forests, private land services for Managed Forest Law land and management plans on state forest land.

"We are really striving to make sure that our highest priority, highest demand services are still provided," Mr. DeLong said.

Mr. DeLong said his department conferred with organizations to find out what effect program cuts would have on their projects.

"We wanted to make sure that something wouldn't cause a ripple effect or have consequence far in excess of the dollars we were talking about," he said.

Money won't be withheld if it fundamentally undercuts ongoing projects, or if the same project is much more difficult or expensive to complete a year or two down the road.

"That's penny wise and pound foolish," Mr. DeLong said.

Other state agencies that draw on the forestry budget have been asked to reduce their expenditures.

The Wisconsin Environmental Education Board has been encouraged to lapse some WEEB grant funding that supports school forest and forestry education projects. Grant allocations will most likely be reduced through the County Forest Wildlife Habitat Aids program.

The largest outside draw on the forestry budget is from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Mr. DeLong said that department has agreed to draw back its spending on shared programs.

The emerald ash borer control program, which is shared with the DATCP and U.S. Department of Agriculture, won't be drawn back.

"There's not a belief that this is a fundamental structural deficit in the forestry account. What we believe at this point in time is that this is a short-term problem," Mr. DeLong said.

He said money could be reinstated to some programs before the end of FY09 if money is available.

The forestry account normally has annual revenues of about $95 million. The DNR forestry budget is about $50 million, Mr. DeLong said.