RELEASE: Representative Amy Sheldon introduces Vermont Climate Resilience and State Wildlands Act
- Zack Porter
- Feb 21
- 3 min read
Innovative legislation protects Vermont communities from flooding, enhances water quality, supports biodiversity, captures planet-warming carbon, and bolsters Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy
MONTPELIER, VT – Representative Amy Sheldon of Middlebury, Chair of the Vermont House Committee on the Environment, has introduced H.267, the Vermont Climate Resilience and State Wildlands Act, to add a critical missing tool to Vermont’s conservation and climate resiliency toolbox. Vermonters praised Rep Sheldon for her vision, leadership, and innovation in the face of major threats to Vermont’s communities, economy, and ecosystems from floods, water quality degradation, and habitat loss.
“Scientists and officials at the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources have made it clear to my committee that it’s imperative to restore an ‘ecologically functional landscape’ if we are to overcome the flooding, water quality, and extinction crises facing our state,” commented Rep Sheldon. “But until now, Vermont has lacked an essential tool to recover old forests on state-managed lands. This legislation represents a high-reward, low-cost strategy that will benefit Vermonters for generations to come.”
The Vermont Climate Resilience and State Wildlands Act assists the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (VT ANR) with achieving its own goals set by Vermont Conservation Design, a blueprint for maintaining and restoring Vermont’s “ecologically functional landscape.” Although 76% of Vermont is forested, less than 1% of Vermont's forests are natural or “old forests.” Vermont Conservation Design stipulates that at least 10% of Vermont should be managed to recover the old forests that were once common across the state. Act 59 of 2023, the Vermont Climate Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act, codified these goals into law.
The State Wildlands Act puts approximately two-thirds of lands managed by Vermont ANR, primarily State Parks and State Forests in beloved places like Camel’s Hump, the Worcester Range, and Lake Willoughby (see here for a map), on a path to recovering old forests. The legislation increases the amount of land in old forest management from just 4% of Vermont, today, to 7%. All existing public access roads and public uses, including hunting, fishing, foraging, and recreational trails for snowmobiling, mountain biking, and hiking, would remain unchanged, as would developed recreation areas like campgrounds, leased ski areas, and backcountry cabins (for more information, see this fact sheet).
“This bill is an insurance policy against flood disasters that are plaguing towns across Vermont, including mine,” said Jamison Ervin, Duxbury resident and Selectboard member. “Ninety percent of state lands are in forested headwaters, and we need those lands managed to maximize flood risk reduction downstream. This bill does exactly that.”
“Forests are one of Vermont’s greatest assets in the fight against climate change,” added Rebecca Dalgin, 350VT Interim Co-Director & Lead Organizer. “Scientists estimate that Vermont's forests could store two times more carbon by 2100 if allowed to grow old.”
"Old forests are exceedingly rare in Vermont today, but in the face of climate change we need them more than ever," noted John Roe of Sharon, Vermont, a retired forest ecologist who worked for The Nature Conservancy in Vermont for 19 years. "The complexity and large water storage capacity of old forests maximizes native biodiversity, reduces flood and drought risk, maintains healthy streams, and releases water vapor to the air, lowering air temperatures.”
Approximately 80% of Vermont is privately owned, and the vast majority of private forests are legally available for timber harvest. Only 2% of Vermont's annual wood harvest comes from state lands. Vermont does not have a wood shortage: on average, 50% more timber is harvested annually than is consumed in-state (see p38, Table 4).
“More than a century ago, New York put most of its public lands on a path to growing old,” added Zack Porter, Executive Director of Standing Trees, a Vermont-based nonprofit that advocates for New England’s public lands and waters. “Today, an area equal in size to half of Vermont is growing old and healthy in New York’s Adirondacks, providing clean water to Lake Champlain, clean air for us to breathe, and habitat for imperiled species. Now it’s our turn to grow the future old forests of Vermont.”
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