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Report Finds Fragmentation Threatens Vermont’s Forests

Lawmakers received a report from the Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Forests Parks and Recreation Thursday indicating that the state’s forested lands are in danger of fragmentation.

Last year, the Vermont Legislature passed a bill mandating a report assessing the current and projected effects of fragmentation on Vermont’s forestland. It was to include recommendations for how to best protect the integrity of Vermont’s forests.

Commissioner of Forest Parks and Recreation Michael Snyder issued the report to lawmakers Thursday morning. It cites the U.S. Forest Service’s National Forest Inventory and Analysis Program most recent figures from 2013 that show a continuing loss of about 75,000 acres of forestland in Vermont since 2007.
Vermont Natural Resources Council Forest and Wildlife Program Director Jamey Fidel
calls the trend somewhat alarming.   “The good news is there’s a lot of forestland in Vermont that’s intact. We still have many large forested areas. But the writing is on the wall as far as the trend that we’re seeing. For the first time in over a century our forests are now declining in extent rather than increasing. If this trend continues we’re going to whittle away at the integrity of our forests and then all the benefits that our forest land provide both to our economy and our environmental well being.”

Eighty percent of Vermont’s forests are owned by private landowners. About a fifth are on public lands including the Green Mountain National Forest, state parks and municipal forests.
Vermont Land Trust Vice President for Community Relations Elise Annes believes with forestland being converted to other uses there is a sense of urgency to act.  “As a state in terms of a priority and in terms of policy we haven’t necessarily thought about the integrity of forests across Vermont. So it’s worth thinking about what is our strategy as a state? How do we deliberately protect our forests, which are so critical to our economy, to our environment? But also Vermont is a place that will be growing, that has to grow.  Housing is important, business and jobs are important too. So can we think about this strategically as a state in terms of  policy?”

The report found that Vermont's wooded areas are being broken up into smaller pieces as higher population and development pressures increase.
Fidel notes that the goal is not to stifle development to protect woodlands, but rather find smart growth alternatives.  “Keeping forests intact is the economic engine of Vermont. All of the revenue that comes from different sectors tie to keeping our forests intact. So this is very much an economic policy for the state. It’s something that we have to wrestle with.  How to find a balance where we can be smart about new growth, but how can we do it in a way that better maintains the integrity of our forests rather than cookie cutter subdivisions or the kind that does not take the forest benefits into consideration.”

The report recommends legislators strategically target land conservation investments; help local governments discourage development that convert large forest tracts to other uses and educate Vermonters about the economic and ecological benefits of large blocks of forests.

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