VNRC Convenes Unprecedented Forest Roundtable

VNRC is currently conducting a roundtable discussion with over 60 experts in the state to identify the causes of forest fragmentation and parcelization and create workable solutions for landowners, municipalities, and state government to adequately plan for appropriate forestland conservation.
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Important Farm, Forest Conservation Measure Becomes Law

Legislation to improve Vermont's Current Use Program was enacted into law on June 10, 2008. The bill makes several targeted improvements to the administration of the popular and broadly-supported 30-year-old program, also known as the Use Value Appraisal Program. Current use is widely credited with helping keep Vermont's farms and forests viable, well-managed and intact by taxing land at its use value rather than its higher development value.
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Technical Assistance to Communities

VNRC is working to develop creative new planning and zoning strategies in Vermont to promote forestland conservation and reduce forest fragmentation and parcelization. We are reviewing forestland conservation planning strategies that exist in the state and developing new planning templates for municipalities. VNRC is available to assist communities on this issue in several ways.
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VNRC Wins Important National Victory for Wildlife, Forests

The nation’s national forest lands and wildlife are safer now, thanks in large part to a lawsuit filed by VNRC and other leading environmental groups. In an exciting victory, a federal court judge on March 30, 2007 put the brakes on the Bush administration’s implementation of its environmentally harmful forest planning regulations.
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Decision Misses Key Opportunity to Protect Pristine Streams

On August 9, 2005 the Water Resources Board (Board) issued a setback to the designation of sixty-six waters on the Green Mountain National Forest Service (GMNF) as Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW). VNRC and Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), along with individual citizens, filed a Petition with the Board seeking protection for certain headwater streams, lakes and ponds, and wetlands on the GMNF. An ORW designation would have required that water quality be maintained and protected in the individual waters and their tributaries.
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VNRC Helps Safeguard Critical Bear Habitat

VNRC successfully halted a plan by Central Vermont Public Service Corporation (CVPS) to build a new utility line through a regionally important black bear travel corridor known as the “Sage Hill Corridor” in Stratton and Jamaica. In an important decision which makes a strong statement about the value of protecting fragile natural areas as important habitat for wildlife, the District Environmental Commission #2 denied CVPS’s motion to alter the decision last week.

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Green Mountain National Forest Plan Released

Updated 4/18: On March 22, 2006 the U.S. Forest Service released its final management plan for the 400,000-acre Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF). Located in southern and central Vermont, the national forest attracts thousands of visitors each year, providing exceptional recreational opportunities for hunting, fishing, skiing, hiking, camping, and wildlife watching. The GMNF is home to a variety of plants, animals and important natural communities and it provides Vermonters with clean water, timber resources, and the chance to experience quiet backcountry solitude.
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Wilderness Bill Signed Into Law!

On December 1, President Bush signed into law the New England Wilderness Act of 2006, adding 42,000 acres of permanently protected wild lands to the Green Mountain National Forest. Now off limits to motorized recreation and logging, these wild lands will offer visitors unparalleled remote backcountry opportunities to hike, fish, hunt, and explore.
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Activists, Sportsmen, Others Pull Together for Vermont's Wildlife

The Vermont Wildlife Partnership, a non-traditional coalition of 36 organizations that includes VNRC, The Nature Conservancy and the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen, is urging lawmakers to secure long-term funding for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, which finds itself increasingly stretched financially.

The coalition supports the recommendations made by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Task Force, a group appointed by the Governor last year to investigate alternatives and make recommendations on sustainable funding sources.
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Decision in Halifax Case Important Precedent, Conservation Win

A recent ruling by a state court that two backcountry trails in the Town of Halifax could not be reclassified to public roads will have important implications for the rural southern Vermont community and other towns working to control sprawl. The decision will help make rural lands along trails, which include significant wildlife habitat, working forests and recreational opportunities, less vulnerable to development.
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