VNRC Policy Position: H.126

H.126, An act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Vermont is the third-most forested state of the lower 48, with approximately 4.5 million acres of forestland covering approximately 78% of the state. 
  • Forests maintain air quality, water quality, flood resilience, and wildlife habitat, and are a valuable tool for fighting climate change by sequestering and storing carbon.
  • The U.S. Forest Service estimates that Vermont may be losing upwards of 12,000 acres of forestland every year, and if this rate continues, over 300,000 acres of forestland may be lost by 2050.
  • Research by VNRC shows that the phenomenon of forest fragmentation through parcelization and the subdivision of forestland into smaller and smaller pieces and multiple ownerships is gaining momentum.
  • Vermont’s Climate Action Plan recommends the state of Vermont set a conservation goal to conserve 30% of Vermont’s land by 2030.  

BACKGROUND

H.126, referred to as the “30 x 30” bill, would elevate land conservation as a necessary strategy to promote healthy forests, habitat connectivity, biodiversity protection, outdoor recreation, sustainable forestry, public health and climate resilient communities. 

The policy recognizes that Vermont’s most effective and efficient contribution to conserving biological diversity and maintaining a state that is resilient to climate change is to conserve an intact and connected landscape with a mix of management approaches including ecological reserves and working lands.  

WHAT IS BEING PROPOSED? 

H.126 proposes to: 

  • Help implement Vermont’s Climate Action Plan by setting conservation goals for the State of Vermont; specifically, to conserve 30% of Vermont’s land by 2030, and go beyond that recommendation to also plan to conserve 50% by 2050;
  • Have the Agency of Natural Resources and Vermont Housing and Conservation Board develop a plan to meet the conservation goals established in the bill. This plan would include an inventory of public and private land already conserved, a review of different conservation categories, and recommendations for current and future programs that will be needed to achieve the conservation goals; and
  • Recognize that a diverse set of stakeholders and the public should be involved in the planning process, including landowners, conservation groups, working lands enterprises, outdoor recreation groups and businesses, local and regional planners, state and federal agencies, municipalities, and Indigenous groups and representatives from historically marginalized and disadvantaged communities.

VNRC testified in support of H.126 (see below), and has worked hard with coalition and state partners to build support for the bill in the Legislature. We support efforts in the bill to develop a plan to advance Vermont’s Climate Action Plan goal of increasing the pace of land conservation in Vermont, in addition to supporting planning to employ diverse strategies to maintain a resilient landscape in Vermont.

We agree that the value of our forests lies in their broad uses, supporting biodiversity, community and climate resilience, as well as our outdoor recreation economy and working lands enterprises. All of these uses are supported in the bill, and this bill will help maintain the durability of our natural areas, and the lands that contribute to our rural economy, and our tourism and recreation economy. 

WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?

The Vermont House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.126 on a vote of 108-36. Once in the Senate, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Energy passed the bill out of committee on a unanimous 5-0 vote, and it was then was voted out of the Senate on a 20-7 on second reading.

It then returned to the House Committee on Environment and Energy for concurrence with a Senate amendment, and was unanimously voted out 11-0.

We support the current version of the bill as passed by the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy. While modifications have been made that we support but are not recognized in our testimony, you can read VNRC’s full testimony to the Senate Committee here. 

Further questions about the bill? 

Contact Jamey Fidel, General Counsel & Forest Program Director, jfidel@vnrc.org