The Department of Lands has six budgeted programs. 1) The Business Services Program provides staff support to the State Board of Land Commissioners, and provides administrative and technical assistance in legal, data processing, personnel, human resources, fiscal, and IT services.
2) The Forest Resources Management Program has the responsibility to provide technical guidance, develop administrative procedures, and maintain a system of review for all programs relating to the protection, administration, improvement, and utilization of the forest resources on state and private lands within Idaho.
3) The Trust Land Management Program maximizes income from cropland, grazing, mineral resources, recreation sites and special surface uses of state-owned land. The program also administers a state land sale and exchange program, which uses the land exchange program to block state ownership for management efficiency while acquiring high value, high revenue producing property.
4) The Forest and Range Fire Protection Program provides protection to the timber and grazing resources of the state through prevention, rapid detection, and suppression of wildfire; and provides assistance to rural community fire departments. Funding is passed through to the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association and the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association pursuant to Section 38-111, Idaho Code.
5) The Board of Scaling Practices assures that only competent and certified scalers are used by the forest products industry to scale (measure) forest products in a standard, uniform method statewide.
6) The Minerals, Public Trust, Oil and Gas Conservation Program is charged with overseeing the petroleum industry pursuant to H301aa and S1099aaH of 2017, which established the program and created a new deputy director to oversee gas and oil exploration in Idaho. It also performs the regulatory functions associated with the Public Trust Program, oil and gas development regulation, Lake Protection Act, Surface Mining Act, and the Dredge and Placer Mining Act.