Three things: the role of clean water in climate resilience, celebrating Legislative wins for the environment, and a recap of this week’s Conservation, Restoration & Conversation event!
Stay informed, connected, and engaged—three things.
The Role of Clean Water in Climate Resilience
Curious about the role of clean water in climate resilience? Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing a series of short videos on our Instagram and Facebook to help break down everything you need to know about water! Protecting our watersheds, riparian areas, river corridors and wetlands are all key to Vermont’s ability to combat climate change – and it’s important to understand each of these to better inform our understanding of the role they play in climate resilience. We’ve also put together six, one-page informational guides to accompany these videos, which are available to view and download on our website here.
Recent Wins in the Legislature for Environmental Protection
It’s been a very busy couple of weeks for the Vermont Legislature, as crossover week is behind us and many bills have been voted out of their chamber of origin (i.e. the House or Senate). Thank you to everyone who has been staying engaged and letting their legislators know these issues are important! Below are a couple of big wins for climate and environmental protection that we’re celebrating this week:
- The Vermont House Overwhelmingly Votes to Advance H.126, Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Bill – The House voted 108-36 to advance a bill to address the dual challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change, by setting a goal of conserving 30% of our land by 2030 and 50% by 2050. Check out our full press release here, and our Climate Dispatch with Rep. Amy Sheldon on H.126 here.
- Vermont House Gives Strong Approval to H.158, the Modernized Bottle Bill – The House voted 115-29 in support of legislation to update the state’s successful Bottle Bill recycling program. This bill will expand the program to cover a wider range of beverages to reduce waste, cut plastic pollution, and increase recycling. Check out this letter of support that VNRC and other groups sent to the House to learn more about this issue.
Conservation, Restoration & Conversation – An Update on Water
This past Monday, Karina Dailey, VNRC’s Restoration Ecologist, participated in a panel with Trout Unlimited of Southwestern Vermont and the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife at Orvis Fly Fishing School in Manchester. This event provided an update on the critical work underway as part of the Battenkill Home Rivers Initiative, and a panel discussion on cold water conservation and restoration, including: the state of local waters like dams, culverts and the watershed, info on dam removal projects underway and past, and opportunities and challenges for our local waters going forward. Learn more about the work underway by Trout Unlimited of Southwestern Vermont here.