PRESS RELEASE: Standing Trees and Environmental Advocacy Clinic Score Early Victory in Lawsuit Over Vermont Public Land Management
- Zack Porter
- 5 hours ago
- 4 min read
Court says Vermont Agency of Natural Resources must address claims it violated the public trust doctrine and failed to follow required public process for massive logging plans on state lands
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9th, 2026
MEDIA CONTACTS
Zack Porter, Standing Trees, zporter@standingtrees.org, (802) 552-0160
Jim Dumont, Law Office of James A. Dumont, Esq., dumont@gmavt.net, (802) 349-7342
Jessie Forand, Junapr, jessie@junapr.com, (802) 370-0611
MONTPELIER, Vt. (April 9, 2026) — On Tuesday, a Vermont state court granted the forest protection organization Standing Trees an important early victory in its lawsuit over the management of Vermont state lands, denying the state’s motion to dismiss the case.
Represented by the Law Office of James A. Dumont, Esq., and Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic (EAC) with participation from its student attorneys, Standing Trees filed litigation in August 2025 alleging that the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) is unlawfully managing state forests, parks and wildlife management areas, which provide critical ecological, recreational, clean water and flood protection benefits to Vermonters.
ANR moved to dismiss the case, and the court’s decision on Tuesday denied that motion in part, allowing Standing Trees’ case to proceed.
“The judge’s ruling ensures that Vermont’s state lands — lands that belong to all of us — will have their day in court,” said Zack Porter, executive director of Standing Trees. “The public deserves to have a seat at the table in public land decisions. This lawsuit is about making sure that public lands are managed for the public good and in the public interest.”
The court’s ruling affirmed that Standing Trees’ lawsuit should proceed on its two central claims:
That ANR is not complying with its obligations to protect public trust resources like Vermont’s waterways, which are critical for flood and drought protection, recreation, navigation, habitat, drinking water and irrigation; and
That ANR unlawfully rejected a petition seeking initiation of rulemaking to address its recently issued management plan for the CC Putnam State Forest, which spans the length of Vermont’s wild and undeveloped Worcester Range, from Middlesex to Morrisville.
“The public trust doctrine is a common law rule that the Supreme Court of Vermont and the courts of many other states have adopted,” said Attorney James A. Dumont. “It holds that state governments have a duty above and beyond just complying with statutes and regulations when they make decisions affecting the state’s lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. Instead of just avoiding breaking the law — a duty that applies to all of us — state governments have a duty to make their decisions based on what is best for the public, not just what is needed to comply with statutes and regulations. The public trust doctrine also requires that these important decisions be made in the open, with public participation. The court’s decision will allow Standing Trees to present facts that prove that ANR’s management of state forests, parks and wildlife management areas shortchanges our waters and the public, and that key decisions are being made behind closed doors.”
The court’s final decision could shape how the public is involved in future planning for Vermont state lands and how ANR conducts reviews of its proposed actions. It also has the potential to set a precedent for how public trust resources should be protected by land management agencies.
Federal and state governments are entrusted with stewarding public trust resources — such as our air and water — but those legal obligations remain largely undeveloped and unenforced across the U.S.
Standing Trees’ litigation seeks to ensure that the State of Vermont fully weighs the costs and benefits of its actions, including authorization of large-scale logging, on public resources like clean water, flood risk reduction, and fish and wildlife habitat.
“As the court noted, the public trust doctrine is an ‘elemental feature of American and Vermont common law,’” said Christophe Courchesne, director of the Environmental Advocacy Clinic. “We are gratified that we can move forward with our lawsuit to enforce these vital environmental protections for our waterways and to secure the required public process before the state makes binding decisions with such major impacts on our natural resources and our communities.”
VLGS Visiting Professor Hillary Hoffmann and EAC student attorneys Madeleine DeMoranville, Reena Garcia, Alex Jones, Rubina Manjikian and Haleigh Smith contributed to the briefing opposing the state’s motion to dismiss. Standing Trees’ briefs are here and here.
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Standing Trees is a grassroots membership organization that works to protect and restore New England’s forests for the benefit of the climate, clean water and biodiversity, with a focus on state and federal public lands in Vermont and New Hampshire. Standing Trees members regularly visit and recreate throughout the Worcester Range and other state lands. For more information, visit standingtrees.org or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
James A. Dumont is an attorney based in Bristol, Vermont with more than 40 years of experience in statewide environmental law matters. For more information, visit dumontlawvt.com.
Vermont Law and Graduate School, a private, independent institution, is home to a law school that offers ABA-accredited residential and online hybrid JD programs and a graduate school that offers master’s degrees and certificates in multiple disciplines, including programs offered by the Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment, the Center for Justice Reform and other graduate-level programs emphasizing the intersection of environmental justice, social justice and public policy. Both the law and graduate schools feature experiential clinical and field work learning. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu, Facebook and Instagram.