Excerpted from an article by Emma Cotton in VTDigger:

“Vermont’s current use program, which provides landowners with a lower property tax rate for undeveloped land, is set to see a new category that allows landowners to prioritize conservation.

With few exceptions, the benefits of current use, which launched in 1980, have been available only to landowners who farm or harvest trees on their land. 

The idea is that, in exchange for receiving a lower tax rate, landowners contribute to Vermont’s economy. Current use has been hailed as an effective way to safeguard Vermont’s working forests and rural character.”

….

Enacting this improvement to the Current Use Program is a positive but modest step forward for Vermont’s forests,” said Lauren Hierl, executive director of Vermont Conservation Voters. 

Read the full article here.