The Green Mountain's Future

Author: Alyssa Thurston

It's easy to take Vermont's scenic beauty for granted, and it's just as easy to overlook the increasing impact of organization and development on the state's traditional landscape. With this in mind, students, faculty and community members gathered in the Robert A. Jones '59 House last Thursday to hear a panel presentation and discussion about the future of rural land use and preservation in Vermont.

Andrew Savage '03.5, a political science major and environmental studies minor from Calais, organized the event which was titled "The Future of Vermont's Landscapes: Cities and Wilderness, Farms and Forests." Referring to his motivations for putting together the discussion, Savage said, "I have researched a lot about the role of local environmental groups and started to realize that they all do great things with great missions, but often fail to come together to look at the big picture. I wanted to see what it would be like to bring together these four key areas (city development, wilderness conservation, agriculture and forestry) affecting open space in Vermont, and to see if there are some better ways to integrate them."

The event brought together four speakers who each represented a different environmental group in Vermont but who all had the common goal of preserving rural and wild lands in the state. Each of the panelists made a presentation describing their respective organization's goals and projects.

Sarah Judd, associate director of the Vermont Forum on Sprawl, spoke about its mission "to preserve Vermont's unique working landscape and quality of life" by promoting activity in downtown centers to prevent urban sprawl on town fringes.

Tom Butler, director of education and advocacy at the Wildlands Project, and editor of its quarterly publication Wild Earth Journal, pointed out the scenic, recreational and ecological benefits of preserving wilderness. "There is no such thing as too much of a good thing. We need more [wilderness in Vermont]... and a coordinated statewide policy... providing for biodiversity," he said.

Third to speak was Richard Donovan of Smartwood, an organization based in Vermont which works to promote use of "green certified" wood, a standard analogous to organic food, in order to ensure that wood production meets sustainable ecological standards.

Lastly, Alex Wylie, agricultural director for the Vermont Land Trust, discussed his organization's work in conserving Vermont's open spaces by promoting sustained agriculture. Part of the Land Trust's activities, in order "to conserve [Vermont's] working landscape and the scenic, economic and recreational attributes it provides," is to purchase development rights on farmland to keep it open for agriculture.

Following the presentations was a discussion among the panel members, and a question-and-answer session with the audience. Topics discussed ranged from how to balance wilderness conservation with human and societal needs to how to sustain small-scale agriculture in Vermont. The guiding theme throughout the evening was the conspicuous lack of a statewide forum to discuss and deal with the myriad social, political and economic interests and challenges currently influencing the development of the Vermont landscape.

The panelists discussed the need to initiate communication and cooperation in order to achieve a common dialogue between Vermont's environmental groups, but at the same time acknowledged the difficulty in achieving such a unified front. According to Judd, due to the diversity of interests and goals among Vermont communities in their own development and sustainability, "it is difficult to come up with a common vision that works for everyone." Donovan brought up the issue of property rights as a further barrier. Since 83 percent of the state's land is privately owned, "the state cannot control the individual actions of every individual landowner" in terms of how they use and develop their own land, he said.

In discussing how to possibly best begin to implement a state-wide dialogue to achieve their shared visions, while balancing the needs of the various interests that they represented, all four panelists put forth suggestions oriented around efforts at the popular grassroots level. Each emphasized the crucial roles individuals play in personal impact on the environment, and in supporting state agriculture and economy. Butler observed that native Vermonters, due to their historically close connection with the land, "have a deep inborn land ethic." This intrinsically motivates them to preserve the state's forests and wildlife, despite the current trend towards sub-urbanization in the state, which holds promise for the future vitality of environmental advocacy in Vermont.

Judd promoted widespread and active community involvement in the vision of their individual futures in terms of landscape development. She also endorsed making better use of the resources that we already have, to prevent further human encroachment on Vermont's open spaces. Both Donovan and Wylie espoused understanding of rural values and lifestyles, as well as evaluation of personal consumption of resources, as ways of providing tools for community activism.

Asked about his reaction to the discussion panel's outcome, Savage responded: "It didn't achieve coming up with some grand solution to integrate these four policy areas so that we have an effective strategy for the future. But, I didn't expect that, though it would have been nice! Most successful, I think, was just getting people thinking about the issue, both the panelist, [in thinking about] integrating what they do with the other issues, and the audience. If half of the people who came left thinking hard about the issues, then it was a success."

Professor of Political Science Christopher Klyza, who moderated the discussion, concurred. "It was an excellent discussion with some good and frank exchanges." He cautioned that "the biggest challenge is that there still isn't anyone in Vermont who thinks about the state as an entire landscape. Each group was focused on their particular areas... However, the discussion did get the issue on the agenda, and hopefully it will get people to start thinking more about this bigger vision."

It appears, based on the range and complexity of issues discussed, and the active and spirited dialogue that occurred between panel speakers and audience members alike, that the prospect of developing a common discussion on the future of Vermont's landscapes is indeed off to a strong start.