After two years of public pressure from Standing Trees and allies, the State of Vermont is embarking on a first-ever rulemaking process that will shape state land management policies for years to come. Join in for an upcoming public meeting and submit a comment to help put the "public" back in public lands!
JOIN US AT AN UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETING HOSTED BY VT ANR:
Monday September 16, 6:00-8:00 PM: Okemo Mountain Resort, Jackson Gore Inn, Roundhouse Room, 111 Jackson Gore Road, Ludlow, VT 05149
Thursday September 19, 6:00-8:00 PM: Hazen Union High School, 126 Hazen Union Drive, Hardwick, VT 05843.
*No live-stream virtual meeting option is available, but a recording will be made of the state's presentation. We are asking the state to hold a virtual meeting for anyone to provide spoken comments.
IMPORTANT DETAILS:
Website for the State of Vermont's "Lands Management Planning Rule"
Link to RSVP for a 90-second comment slot at a public meeting (*you must register in advance if you wish to comment at one of the two public meetings)
Email address to submit written comments: ANR.StateLandsPlanning@vermont.gov (subject line: ANR Planning Rule)
Comment deadline: November 1, 2024
BACKGROUND:
We're in an "all hands on deck" moment for Vermont state lands, and it's time for you to raise your voice! The State of Vermont is conducting a scoping period for its proposed "Lands Management Planning Rule," which will govern how the state drafts management plans for state lands, how the public will be involved in decision-making, and how the state will weigh the costs and benefits of logging compared to forest protection. Sounds just a little important, right?
For decades, the state of Vermont has issued management plans for landscapes like Mt Mansfield State Forest, Groton State Forest, Camel's Hump State Park, and many other beloved areas without ever issuing rules, or a set of legal requirements that ensures transparency and accountability in decision-making. By relying on internal policies (some of which are nowhere to be found on state government websites) that can be bent and broken at will, the state has effectively made land management planning into a "choose-your-own-adventure" exercise where the state can manufacture the process and outcome to suit its own ends, cutting the public out of public lands.
To correct this situation, the VT legislature required the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to promulgate rules for state land management, but the state has failed to follow through in a timely manner, choosing instead to rush new management plans for the Camel's Hump, Worcester Range, and Castleton Management Units before their hands are bound by a new rule. Standing Trees petitioned ANR and filed suit two years ago to force rulemaking, at which time the state committed to beginning the rulemaking process.
The long-awaited start of this rulemaking is welcome news, but here's the catch: the state has put forward a draft that is little more than a recipe for maintaining the status quo instead of moving state land management into a new era. As written, the draft rule would formalize the state's current policies that prevent meaningful public engagement and review of state agency actions. The draft would also allow the state to build or upgrade logging roads and engage in "limited habitat management," which could include logging activities, without completing a management plan or seeking public input first, as long as the actions fall into a list of pre-approved "Universal Management Actions."
TAKE ACTION:
Please submit a comment using the pre-written letter below by 11:59:59 on Friday November 1st. Please feel free to add or edit any content you would like. Thanks for taking action!
TO:
SUBJECT:
ANR Planning Rule
BODY OF EMAIL:
Hannah Phillips, State Lands Administration Program Manager
Agency of Natural Resources
Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation
1 National Life Drive, Davis 2
Montpelier, VT 05620-3801
Dear Ms Phillips,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the VT ANR draft Lands Management Planning Rule. For decades, the state of Vermont has issued management plans for landscapes like Mt Mansfield State Forest, Groton State Forest, Camel's Hump State Park, and many other beloved areas without ever issuing rules, or a set of legal requirements that ensures transparency and accountability in decision-making. These treasured places belong to all Vermonters, and ANR is entrusted with caring for them on behalf of the public.
This rulemaking is an opportunity to ensure that the public has full access to the state's decision-making processes for state land management, and that there is accountability for state government decision-makers. It's also an important moment to take stock of the unique value of public lands, and to consider how they might be managed differently into the future to help our state mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, stave off the loss of biodiversity, and reverse the declining trend in water quality in our rivers, lakes, and ponds.
Major concerns with the draft Lands Management Planning Rule include the following:
This rulemaking is about putting the "public" in public lands, but the VT ANR draft rule continues to keep the public at arm's length, preventing meaningful public input and evading transparency and accountability in both the development and implementation of management plans and actions. The rule should clearly describe when the public will have an opportunity to weigh in on draft Long Range Management Plans, draft Interim Stewardship Plans, draft Management Actions, draft Statewide Plans, and any amendments. The rule should require VT ANR to post to its website all relevant analyses and planning documents so that the public has full access to the information that supports the state's decisions, in order to help the public develop its comments. Finally, the rule should also clearly state when the agency will make a final decision that is subject to judicial review.
Nothing in the draft Land Management Planning Rule gives Vermonters the assurance they deserve that the state will prioritize flood attenuation, climate change mitigation, biodiversity protection, and clean water when developing future management plans. In the face of devastating floods, worsening water pollution in our lakes and ponds, and the potential extinction or extirpation of numerous state and federally-listed endangered species, VT ANR must reprioritize and rebalance land uses. A well-crafted rule can help to ensure that ecosystem services and habitat protection are prioritized over logging in future management plans.
As currently written in the draft, after a Long Range Management Plan is issued, the public will have no further opportunities for meaningful input on or review of the state's implementation for the duration of a plan, which could last well over 20 years. That amounts to a whole generation of Vermonters that will have zero input on the management of the Worcester Range, for example, until the plan is revised more than two decades from now. Not only is this unethical and a betrayal of the public, it also prevents a plan from evolving and adapting to the latest science. The state must issue notifications for any management action that tiers to a Long Range Management Plan, and it must provide detailed information and time for public review and comment on the state's site-specific analysis.
Vermont ANR must provide reasonable public notification for agency planning processes. The draft rule would commit ANR to nothing more than issuing a press release and posting information on its website to notify the public of decisions that could impact state lands for decades to come. At a minimum, the state should be required to alert any citizen who has registered for updates via email, and at least two public meetings - one in person and one virtual - should be held during every comment period.
Making matters significantly worse, the draft rule creates enormous "categorical exclusions" that would allow the state to conduct a wide variety of management actions without any public notification, comment periods, or accountability. For example, VT ANR proposes to allow "forest health mitigation activities such as treatment or removal of disease trees" and "limited habitat management and enhancement activities" without first issuing a management plan, and without providing any opportunity for public comment. Such vast exemptions from transparency and accountability could allow VT ANR to conduct major logging and road building projects without any prior planning or public scrutiny. These exemptions are so broad that they make the rest of the provisions in the draft rule null and void. VT ANR could simply rely on broad categorical exclusions for virtually any proposed project.
Thank you for offering this opportunity to comment on the draft Lands Management Planning Rule. I look forward to reviewing and commenting on the next draft when the rulemaking process formally begins.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME HERE
Thanks for taking a stand for public forests!
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