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Take Action: Speak up for Public Lands and Wild Forests in Vermont’s 30x30 Conservation Law

Updated: Jul 30

Vermont’s landmark 30x30/50x50 conservation law is intended to make space for natural processes and restore an “ecologically functional landscape” across Vermont. Meeting the goals of Act 59, however, will require more than just maintaining the conservation status quo. It’s up to us to attend an upcoming “listening session" and advocate for public engagement, public lands, and wild forests.

Vermont’s Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act (Act 59) aims to protect an “ecologically functional landscape” by conserving 30% of the state’s land area by 2030, and 50% by 2050. It’s up to us to make sure the implementation process prioritizes letting treasured public forests grow old — including the wild, unprotected forests pictured here in the Worcester Range.
Vermont’s Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act (Act 59) aims to protect an “ecologically functional landscape” by conserving 30% of the state’s land area by 2030, and 50% by 2050. It’s up to us to make sure the implementation process prioritizes letting treasured public forests grow old — including the wild, unprotected forests pictured here in the Worcester Range.

In 2023, thanks to the advocacy of numerous Standing Trees members and other conservation champions, Vermont passed the Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act (Act 59). This visionary law sets targets to protect an “ecologically functional landscape” by conserving 30% of Vermont’s land area by 2030 and 50% by 2050, while also recognizing the necessity of allowing at least 10% of the state to recover old forests, as outlined in Vermont Conservation Design. 


Over the last two years, we have consistently pushed for a robust, honest, open process to implement Act 59 as the Vermont legislature intended. While the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) is ultimately responsible for meeting Act 59’s goals, the law’s implementation is now being led by the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) and the private contractor Future I.Q.


These organizations are now hosting “listening sessions” on the forthcoming plan to implement Act 59. It’s important to show up to one of the following sessions to make sure the Act 59 plan centers old forests, natural landscapes, and public lands protection . You can use the links below to register and get more information on any of the sessions: 





It’s most important to be at the in-person sessions from 5-6:30pm. The first hour (4-5pm) is allotted for informal “networking,” then VHCB, ANR, and their private consultant partner give a 1-hr presentation, followed by an opportunity to provide your comments and ask questions starting at 6pm. Be prepared to write your comments down on sticky notes (for some strange reason, that is the way that event organizers have chosen to collect public input), and don’t be discouraged if public lands and wildlands aren’t mentioned in the pre-supplied “pathways” you see presented — that’s just all the more reason why it’s important for for wildlands advocates to show up.


Below are some of the main points you can emphasize at the listening sessions. For more information about the importance of wildlands in the Act 59 process, see this StoryMap by a wonderful group of Middlebury College students, and our blog on the previous phase of the Act 59 process. You can also find the Act 59 inventory of existing conserved lands and other documents at the VHCB project website. 


  1. The Act 59 process needs to prioritize the quality as well as the quantity of conserved lands. It isn’t enough to “conserve” more land from development — it is equally essential to make sure that natural processes can actually play out on conserved land, uninhibited by heavy logging, conventional agriculture, and other uses that undermine ecological functionality. Specifically, Act 59 already includes the goal of protecting at least 10% of Vermont to recover old forest. Meeting and exceeding this goal needs to be at the center of the Vermont Conservation Plan. 

  2. Greatly expanding ecological reserves on state lands is one of the most cost-effective, rapidly-scalable ways to meet our Act 59 goals. These lands cost no additional money to protect, already have a mandate to be managed for the public good, and represent many of the state’s largest, oldest tracts of intact forest. Protecting public lands as ecological reserves would save taxpayer money now spent planning timber harvests and building roads on our public lands. The Act 59 Conservation Plan must call for greatly expanding wildlands on both state and federal public lands, as well as private lands.

Act 59 sets goals for ecological reserves (i.e. wildlands), but the State does not have a tool to permanently protect state lands as ecological reserves. We can’t meet the goals of Act 59 until the state establishes an ecological reserve designation. 


Thanks for your advocacy!

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