Three Things: This week, we’re announcing the Association of Vermont Conservation Commissions summit, sharing our recent op-ed “Why Wood is Good for our Waterways,” and recapping the clean energy ribbon cutting event we hosted with VPIRG & Rewiring America.
Association of Vermont Conservation Voters Summit
The Association of Vermont Conservation Commissions (AVCC) will hold its 2024 Annual Meeting via Zoom on Thursday, September 5, 2024 at 12:00 pm. During the summit, attendees will hear updates on Act 59 implementation as the Agency of Natural Resources and Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) work toward the goal of conserving 30 percent of Vermont’s total land area by 2030. Summit attendees will also hear from conservation commission representatives from Middletown Springs, Putney and Thetford – all recent recipients of Tiny Grants – who will discuss the challenges they’ve faced while stewarding their community’s natural areas, and how AVCC funding has helped them tackle important conservation projects in their towns. Lastly, researchers from the University of Vermont will be discussing the Vermont Town Forest Census Project, an effort to inventory municipally-owned town forests across Vermont and better understand their current governance, usage, accessibility, and stewardship.
Op-Ed: Why Wood is Good for our Waterways
Drive for a few minutes in any direction in Vermont and you’ll notice the significant changes the rivers have had on the landscape this past year. Guardrails are falling into rivers, streams are flowing over and under our roads, sediment deposits of all sizes are providing nutrients to our floodplains, and woody debris and upstream garbage has left drift piles in unexpected places. The rivers are actively reshaping our communities.
As we clean up and move forward from the disastrous flooding, we need to remember that flooding is a natural process and, as a result of a changing climate it will happen again – this is how rivers function. At the same time, maintaining our built environment is critical for our own safety and function. We need to be able to travel along our roads and feel safe in our homes, schools, businesses, and other buildings.
It makes sense to remove woody debris that might compromise the integrity of our bridges and culverts. However, it doesn’t make sense to devoid the stream of all wood, which provides sustenance and helps maintain the integrity of the water cycle. Wood is good for our waterways because fallen trees trap sediment, and provide anchors around which the river can scour and undercut, shaping deposition, dissipating energy and even regulating water temperature. Read the full opinion here.
Rewiring America Ribbon Cutting
State Senator Anne Watson and Montpelier Mayor Jack McCullough joined Montpelier resident John Snell and representatives of the Vermont Natural Resources Council and VPIRG today to celebrate the 2nd Anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) at Snell’s home in Montpelier. Joined by local media, they toured his home and the energy upgrades made to it that were made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act.
“We’ve been chipping away at making our home more efficient for years,” said John Snell of Montpelier. “The money the Inflation Reduction Act put on the table was a game changer – it allowed us to finally install heat pumps, and nearly eliminate our home’s fossil fuel use.”
Snell recently installed an induction stove, and in 2023 installed four heat pumps to complete his home energy upgrades. This event comes after the U.S. Department of Treasury released data on IRA tax credit uptake that shows 3.4 million Americans took advantage of the credits — more than double the federal government’s early projections.