Forest Resources

Regional Overview

Vermont's forests have recovered from a time when agriculture dominated a largely treeless landscape, followed by heavy logging of the young forests that first colonized the unused farmlands. These habitat changes have altered the relative abundance of various plant and animal species. With the maturing of today's forest, a mosaic of fields, pastures and woodlots in rural portions of the region has been shifting to a forested landscape punctuated by residential and recreational development, roadways, and powerline corridors. By contrast, in and around villages and other settled areas, an expansion of suburban development onto former farms and farm woodlots is reducing forest acres and lowering their productivity.

a multi-valued resource

Forests play a major role in the ecological, economic, and social health of the region. As a major component of our landscape, forests are a mix of rich ecological habitats for wildlife that support flora and fauna, contribute to water and air quality, make a significant contribution to reducing climate change effects though carbon sequestration, and form the environmental setting for human activity. Forest land provides employment to foresters, loggers, truckers, artisans, and forest-product manufacturers, and also supports a thriving recreation and tourism industry. In an increasingly populous and urban world, the region's forests offer reminders of Vermont's heritage and a traditional, rural lifestyle that appeal to residents and visitors alike.

These multiple and inter-related values create the potential for conflict and a need for thoughtful planning and management that embodies sound silvicultural practices while permitting multiple, compatible uses and for some fraction set aside as permanently protected natural areas. While it is clear that economic pressures can threaten many forested lands with conversion to non-forest uses, it is important to acknowledge that forest resource values are also threatened or degraded if these lands cannot be maintained in large, interconnected blocks. Fragmentation of large wood lots into smaller parcels with multiple owners decreases the practicality of commercial timber harvest, and diminishes the ability to use sound sustainable forest management practices.

forest economics

The state of Vermont is 74% forested with 4522.9 thousand square acres of forestland. Of that, Windham County has 453 thousand acres of forest cover, which is slightly higher than the VT forest average at 88%. [¹] The region's forestry industry is one of the state's leading producers, especially of high-quality northern hardwoods and white pine. Eighty eight percent of the region's forests are in private, non-industrial ownership, with industrial firms and Federal, State and local governments sharing the rest. The headwaters of the region's major streams and rivers are heavily buffered by forestland, preserving soils, and water purity at the source. Nevertheless, steady population growth, dispersed settlement patterns, and second-home development have increased development pressure in forested areas.

Forests make a significant contribution to the economy of the Windham Region, leading the State in Sawlog and Veneer log harvest.[²] In past years, the forest products industries as a group had been a leader in the regional manufacturing sector in number of establishments and number of employees; however, recent trends have shown that the number of establishments has decreased as other sectors have risen. The forest industry has also slipped behind other types of manufacturing in the region in terms of payroll and average wage.[³] Recent economic hardship, caused by a slowing economy, resulted in some forest owners cutting timber intensively without regard for good forest management practices, leading to forest land that will not produce high quality timber for many years to come. Other forestland in the region has been sold for development. Research suggests, however, that the private owners of the great majority of the region's forests are not motivated by economic pressures alone, but highly value the non-economic resource attributes of their land. The top three reasons for forest ownership has been reported as 1) to enjoy scenery and beauty, 2) to protect or improve wildlife habitat and 3) to protect nature of biological diversity.[⁴] Nevertheless, the typical forestland owner is of mature age, and the potential for permanent conversion to non-forest uses looms large when ownership passes to the next generation, who may or may not have similar views in forest ownership. Two strategies have proven effective over time in keeping forestland intact, the Use-Value Appraisal Program in the short-term and the purchase of conservation easements in the long-term. Each of these programs should be supported and used in appropriate situations to help maintain the forest economy in Windham Region.

THE FOREST'S SOCIAL VALUE

The region's forests offer a rich selection of recreational options. Skiing and snowboarding, snowmobiling, mountain biking, hiking, hunting and fishing, wildlife observation and photography, and foliage appreciation all are popular in their seasons. Many view forestlands as valuable as a precious natural environment and a source of solitude, as well as a host for recreation and forest-based employment. The resource accommodates and satisfies this wide range of values, although some competing uses may at times be in conflict. State and Federal public lands offer opportunities for a backcountry wilderness experience that individual private lands in smaller block sizes cannot match, and they also support the most concentrated commercial recreation in the form of ski resorts. In spite of this, private lands dominate the forested landscape, and their contribution to recreation and aesthetics is essential. The management of forest resources needs to happen at a larger scale than most individual parcels have available. As such, it is important to work in cooperation with landowners and through public planning processes help preserve the value of larger forested blocks in the region.

ISSUES FACING THE REGION'S FORESTS

FRAGMENTATION

Fragmentation of the forested landscape can be caused by any number of development activities. Subdivision of land and construction of new homes and businesses, and their attendant infrastructure, create smaller, separated, even isolated parcels that are too small or inaccessible to be managed or harvested efficiently. Sales by long-term industrial owners may add to this trend. Even if these lots are not developed, there is often a change in attitude of the landowners and a decrease in the land base available for management. This can affect the movement of wildlife across the landscape, the sharing of genetic information between different populations of plants and animals, people employed in the forest products industry and decrease opportunities for recreational activities.

Fragmentation is especially harmful to wildlife as habitats and habitat elements are eliminated or separated. With multiple owners and smaller woodlots the consistency of management practices that favor wildlife, and the connectivity among tracts of land is lost, with a result that can be detrimental to wildlife diversity and species vitality. Fragmentation also relates to climate change impacts influencing how animals will move and adapt as temperatures warm and forest tree species composition changes.

Act 171 was signed into law in June of 2016, amending Vermont's planning statutes to allow regions and municipalities to plan for management of forest and wildlife resources. Statute provides the following definitions for forest blocks and habitat connectors:

Forest block: a contiguous area of forest in any stage of succession and not currently developed for non-forest use. A forest block may include recreational trails, wetlands, or other natural features that do not themselves possess tree cover, and uses exempt from regulation under subsection 4413(d) of this title.
Habitat connector: land or water, or both, that links patches of wildlife habitat within a landscape, allowing the movement, migration, and dispersal of animals and plants and the functioning of ecological processes. A habitat connector may include recreational trails and uses exempt from regulation under subsection 4413(d) of this title. In a plan or other document issued pursuant to this chapter, a municipality or regional plan commission may use the phrase "wildlife corridor" in lieu of "habitat connector."

A look at the larger forested landscape pattern shows our forests are being fragmented by rural sprawl. It occurs incrementally, beginning with cleared swaths or pockets of non-forest within an otherwise unbroken expanse of tree cover. Over time, non-forest pockets tend to multiply and expand. Eventually the forest is fragmented and reduced to scattered, disconnected forest islands. These remnant forest islands are surrounded by land uses that threaten the health, function, and value of them for animal and plant habitat, and for human use. As forest fragments become smaller, practicing forestry can become operationally impractical, economically nonviable, and culturally unacceptable. In turn, we lose the corresponding and significant contributions that forestry makes to our economy and culture.

Forest pattern addresses the configuration of forest blocks and habitat connectors. The pattern is the degree to which forest blocks and habitat connectors connect across the landscape or within a particular town. A healthy forest pattern is one where a town's largest forest blocks connect to one another via smaller forest blocks and riparian areas. These large blocks also connect to large forest blocks beyond the town boundaries. This healthy forest pattern is a network of contiguous streams and forest blocks that extends across town, interrupted only by a few roads or non-forest land cover (see Forest Blocks Map).

The degree of ecological functionality and connectivity varies with landscape condition. Conservation of only narrow threads of vegetative cover within a developing landscape will not maintain an area's ecological values, biological diversity, or plant and animal habitat needs. However, vegetative corridors can serve as habitat connectors. Conservation of vegetative corridors in conjunction with the maintenance of forest blocks with diverse habitat conditions will assist in supporting ecosystem functions and related public benefits.

An ecologically functional landscape is especially important in the context of climate change. Populations of species are already adjusting their home ranges to adapt to new conditions. Northward migration is occurring in response to warming temperatures, as well as in response to more complex changes in soil moisture and micro-climates. Movement resulting from climate change may also occur in more than one direction. Therefore, the overall network of connected lands and waters made up of forest blocks and habitat connectors in Vermont and throughout the northeast region is instrumental in allowing for migration of both plants and animals as our climate changes.

Forest uses directly serving economic ends must be reconciled with the need for large, undeveloped and relatively undisturbed, and interconnected blocks of forest that can meet the habitat needs of wide-ranging wildlife while minimizing human-wildlife conflicts. Forested sites of special natural value need identification and may require protection. Education aimed at improving understanding and appreciation by landowners and by the general public of the natural communities within the forest is essential to striking the right balance between natural, economic, and social uses of those resources. Conservation of forested helps ensure that large tracts of forested land will remain off limits to development and ensure the multiple productive, wildlife and scenic values of this resource.

DIMINISHED ECOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Forested lands contribute to ecological diversity that will allow a healthy mix of plant and animal communities to thrive. Reduced plant diversity and change in forest structure (elimination of the mid-story and expansion of ferns) negatively affects wildlife diversity. There are a few different reasons why there may be diminished ecological diversity in the future. One factor working against such diversity is the impact of deer herd browsing on saplings. The state of Vermont has been keeping a close watch on deer heard numbers and base yearly hunting regulations on deer health and population.

Another factor is the increasing numbers of invasive plant and animal pest species that displace native plants and animals. There is a correlation between invasive plant species taking hold in our region's forests and reduced densities of tree seedlings. Invasive pests, such as the Emerald Ash Borer, will likely change the nature of the region's forests as the amount of living Ash trees decreases.

With the need to manage for ecological diversity in a changing climate, there is an important role for planning in facilitating private landowner cooperation at the regional, town or neighborhood level.

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS

The changing demographics of the Windham Region, particularly in woodland ownership, are beginning to have an effect on forest management practices, as well as on public perceptions, attitudes and influence on regional forestry policies. Some research indicates that new woodland owners in the Windham Region, and in Vermont in general, are younger and less traditionally “land-connected” than historic owners, and that these younger owners are more likely to sell or subdivide their woodlands.

MAINTAINING THE REGION'S WOODLAND LEGACY

Approximately two-thirds of the land area in the Windham Region remains in parcels larger than 50 acres in size. Stronger local policies can be enacted to promote the viability of forestland, especially on intact parcels between 50 and 100 acres. Some forest resource protection tools available to towns include;[⁵]

Designating a forest zoning district (24 V.S.A. § 4414, (1)(B)(ii))
Requiring new developments to have smaller road setbacks, small lot sizes, clustered development, and land in conservation helps minimize forest fragmentation
Encouraging development in existing growth centers to help prevent further fragmentation of natural resources
Enacting overlay districts to restrict development in buffer areas near lakes, ponds, streams, rivers or steep slopes
Developing subdivision bylaws that require development be kept away from sensitive areas as a requirement for obtaining subdivision approval. It is important to note that “sensitive areas” should be identified and defined prior to enactment of the subdivision bylaws.

There are numerous resources for town officials and woodland owners to learn about forest management options, Acceptable Management Practices (AMP's) for maintaining water quality on logging jobs, and climate resiliency in our changing forests. Many organizations, such as Vermont Woodlands and Vermont Coverts provide training and peer to peer connections statewide. In the Windham Region, the Windham Regional Woodlands Association promotes education, conservation science, and recommended forestry practices. Professional programs for loggers and other forest workers (for example, the Vermont Logger Education, Training and Certification program and the Game of Logging program) have increased safety levels and improved forestry practices. Recreational use of forestland is enhanced by a variety of educational programs, such as those offered by the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center of Brattleboro and the Nature Museum of Grafton.

At the State level, legislative intervention in forest-management practices and changes in forestland taxation under the Use Value Appraisal (Current Use) Program have affected both industrial and private ownership. In particular, private owners have created or inherited long-term management plans that are professionally monitored. At this time there are approximately 140,000 forested acres, or 27.6% percent of forests in the Windham Region, enrolled in the Use Value Appraisal Program, which is nearly 50% of the land that is eligible.

The Use Value Appraisal program offers a moderate amount of protection for forestland; however, owners can always withdraw from the program by paying a penalty fee, and then are free to develop their land. Permanent protection of forest land is best achieved through increased funding to support conservation easements. Land Trusts and non-profit land conservation groups are very effective in permanently conserving land and have been steadily adding more forest to the Windham Region's inventory of lands protected through conservation easements.

WORKING LANDS ENTERPRISE INITIATIVE

The Working Lands Enterprise Initiative mission is to strengthen and grow the economies, culture and communities of Vermont's working landscape. The Working Lands Enterprise Fund invests in the working lands economy by: giving grants to small and start-up working lands businesses; supporting working lands service providers that are starting up or in a growth phase; and investing in infrastructure to supporting working lands.

[1] USDA Forest Service. 2021. Forests of Vermont, 2020. Resource Update FS-337. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 2p. https://doi.org/10.2737/FS-RU-337](https://doi.org/10.2737/FS-RU-337

[2] Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation, Vermont Harvest Report 2022, https://fpr.vermont.gov/sites/fpr/files/documents/Harvest_Report_2022.pdf

[3] Vermont Department of Labor Economic & Labor Market Information, Covered Employment and Wages, Windham County 2022, http://www.vtlmi.info/indareanaics.cfm

[4] The Efficacy of Wildlife Conservation Assistance Programs for Vermont Family Forest Owners (2020) by Meg Harrington and Brett Butler

[5] The Conway School Student Project, Woodlands of the Windham Region: Our Working Landscape, 2013.