Help Decide Vermont’s Pathways to Conservation!
Join Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board for a public information session on the Vermont Conservation Strategy Initiative.
To achieve Vermont's goals to conserve 30% of our landscape by 2030 and 50% by 2050, this initiative is developing an inventory of current conservation in Vermont and developing a long-term plan to reach these ambitious goals.We want to hear from you to design equitable and effective pathways to conserve and protect Vermont’s lands and waters.
To learn more about this initiative and learn how you can be involved, register for the public information session on November 30 at 4:30pm-5:30pm
register for the Public information Session
Why? Stakeholders across Vermont celebrated the passage of the Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act in June of 2023. This legislation puts Vermont on course to protect the ecological functions of our landscapes with the ambitious goals of conserving 30% of Vermont's landscape by 2030 and 50% by 2050. The Vermont Legislature has directed the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to collect public input as they inventory the current state of conservation in Vermont and develop a long-term plan to reach these ambitious goals. We want to hear from you to design equitable and effective pathways to conserve and protect Vermont’s lands and waters.
What? We are collecting feedback from various stakeholders on several key questions to complete an inventory of current and possible conservation in Vermont:
- What are our values in creating the Conservation Plan? What is important to you to have in the 30x30 and 50x50 Conservation Plan?
- What kinds of land counts towards the goals? What kind of conservation practices or land protection counts towards the goals in the Act?
- How are we getting there? What are the practices, programs, methods we are currently using or could use to get to our goals?
- How do we improve equity? How equitable are existing land protection and conservation strategies and programs? How can we achieve more equity and access?
- What are the current and potential funding opportunities?. What are existing and potential funding sources that can be leveraged to accelerate conservation?
The input we receive will be used to create an inventory report to the Vermont Legislature Summer 2024, and a final recommended Conservation Strategy Report will be delivered by January, 2026.
How and When? We are creating multiple avenues for public input, including stakeholder work groups, focus groups and public roundtables, interviews, surveys, and public meetings.
Register for the public information session on November 30 at 4:30pm-5:30pm