Vermonters will have an opportunity to weigh in on the future of land conservation policy during an in-person Regional Listening Session on Monday, March 2, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in Rutland (register here), followed by a virtual session on March 9 (register here). Organizers are asking participants to register in advance for both sessions through the Vermont Conservation Plan website.
The session is part of the public input process for the Vermont Conservation Plan (VCP), an initiative led by the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) in consultation with the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR). The plan is intended to guide implementation of Act 59, the 2023 law establishing statewide conservation targets of conserving 30 percent of Vermont’s land by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050.
The Conservation Inventory Report, completed in September 2024, marked the first milestone in the project. That report assessed existing conserved lands and identified geographic and ecological gaps. The current phase focuses on developing the Conservation Plan itself, including draft objectives and pathways that would direct funding, land protection strategies, and long-term stewardship.
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What “Conserved Land” Means
In Vermont, conserved land does not necessarily mean state-owned land.
Many conserved properties remain privately owned. In those cases, landowners voluntarily sell or donate development rights through conservation easements. The land stays in private hands and may continue as working farmland or forest, but permanent legal restrictions limit subdivision or development. Easements are typically held by land trusts or state entities.
Some conserved lands are publicly owned and managed by the state, municipalities, or federal agencies. Public access varies by property. Certain conserved lands allow hunting, fishing, hiking, or other recreation. Others remain closed or have limited access depending on the terms of ownership or easement agreements.
The draft objectives under review could influence how future conservation agreements are structured, including funding priorities and access provisions.
Draft Objective One: Center Vermont Conservation Design
Draft Objective One proposes aligning future land conservation with Vermont Conservation Design (VCD), a statewide ecological planning framework. It includes five pathways.
Pathway 1: Expand Ecological Representation
This pathway calls for increasing conservation across all nine of Vermont’s biophysical regions, with additional emphasis on six identified as underrepresented: the Champlain Valley, Champlain Hills, Taconic Mountains, Vermont Valley, Northern Piedmont, and Southern Piedmont.
Actions include permanently conserving more land in those regions and adjusting VHCB funding to reflect higher land values and project costs in fragmented or developed areas. The stated goal is to improve ecological representation statewide while advancing Act 59’s 2030 and 2050 conservation targets.
The draft notes that conserving land in underrepresented regions could increase proximity and access to conserved lands for residents in those areas.
Pathway 2: Protect Connectivity Corridors
This pathway focuses on maintaining landscape-scale wildlife corridors. It identifies ten Connectivity Focus Areas as priorities for permanent conservation, as outlined in a March 2025 report on implementing Vermont Conservation Design.
Proposed actions include conserving more land within those focus areas, upgrading transportation infrastructure such as bridges and culverts to improve wildlife passage, and encouraging municipal and regional land-use planning that supports ecological connectivity.
Pathway 3: Improve Forest Structure
This pathway addresses forest composition and age diversity. It proposes expanding Ecological Reserve Areas outside the Northern and Southern Green Mountains and managing Biodiversity Conservation Areas and Natural Resource Management Areas to maintain a balance of young and old forests.
The stated objective is to improve biodiversity, climate resilience, and ecological function while contributing to Act 59’s conservation targets.
Pathway 4: Support Aquatic Systems
This pathway targets riparian areas, river corridors, and aquatic systems. Proposed actions include enhancing protection and restoration on both new and existing conserved lands and expanding funding for stewardship and restoration.
Equity considerations under this pathway include prioritizing projects in communities facing elevated flood risk, drinking-water vulnerabilities, or limited access to rivers and lakes. The draft references use of environmental justice and vulnerability mapping to guide funding decisions and suggests pairing floodplain buyouts with relocation support and permanent land protection.
Pathway 5: Protect Rare and Significant Ecological Features
This pathway proposes making inventory and protection of rare species, significant natural communities, and important habitats a standard part of the conservation process. It also calls for flexible funding strategies to support such efforts.
Funding and Equity Criteria
Across the draft objectives, equity considerations are integrated into funding and participation frameworks.
The plan references increasing access to conserved lands and land-based enterprises, supporting new and beginning farmers, expanding community forests, and embedding equity criteria into grantmaking. It also identifies historically marginalized communities as groups that may be prioritized for participation or funding support.
Implementation would involve a range of partners, including private forest and agricultural landowners, land trusts, conservation organizations, municipalities, regional planning commissions, Indigenous groups, and state and federal agencies.
How funding is increased and distributed, and whether additional public access provisions are attached to future conservation agreements, are questions that may be shaped by feedback during the public comment process.
Public Participation
The March 2 listening session in Rutland is open to the public and will provide an opportunity for residents, landowners, farmers, foresters, municipal officials and other stakeholders to comment in person on the draft objectives. and provide input.
In addition to attending a regional session, Vermonters can submit feedback online through structured surveys covering each draft objective:
- Draft Objective 1: Center Vermont Conservation Design
https://www.research.net/r/VCPDraftFrameworkObjective1 - Draft Objective 2: Conservation for Communities
https://www.research.net/r/VCDDraftFrameworkObjective2 - Draft Objective 3: Strengthen Conservation Capacity
https://www.research.net/r/VCPDraftFrameworkObjective3
Each survey includes a series of structured questions tied directly to the draft framework language. State officials recommend reviewing the Draft Framework Report before completing the surveys.
Additional information about the Vermont Conservation Plan, including the Conservation Inventory Report and full draft language, is available at vermontconservationplan.com.
For more information, contact Annie Decker at the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board at 802-661-8958 or a.decker@vhcb.org, or Rebecca Washburn at the Agency of Natural Resources at 802-793-3432 or becca.washburn@vermont.gov.
As Vermont advances toward its statutory conservation benchmarks, the structure of funding, land protection tools, and public access provisions will define how Act 59’s goals are carried out on the ground.
Dave Soulia | FYIVT
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