TAKE ACTION: Speak up for Vermont state lands!
- Zack Porter
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
After four years of public pressure from Standing Trees and allies, the State of Vermont is embarking on a first-ever rulemaking process that will shape state land management policies for years to come. Join in for an upcoming public hearing and submit a comment to help put the "public" back in public lands!
JOIN US AT AN UPCOMING PUBLIC HEARING HOSTED BY VT ANR, AND SPEAK UP FOR THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO SHAPE THE FUTURE OF VERMONT STATE LANDS:
Lyndonville: June 3, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm: Lyndonville Public Safety Building, 316 Main Street, Lyndonville, VT 05851 RSVP here
Waterbury: June 4, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm: Town of Waterbury Municipal Offices, Steele Community Room, 28 North Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05676 RSVP here
Burlington: June 8, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm: Edmunds Middle School Library, 275 Main St, Burlington, VT 05401 RSVP here
Ludlow: June 9, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm: Okemo Mountain Resort, Jackson Gore Inn, Cornerstone Room, 111 Jackson Gore Road, Ludlow, VT 05149 RSVP here
Virtual/Online: June 11, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm: Virtual Meeting (Microsoft Teams) RSVP here
IMPORTANT DETAILS:
Website for the State of Vermont's "Lands Management Planning Rule"
Direct link to Standing Trees' previous comments on the 2024 scoping draft by VT ANR
To submit comments:
Send an email to: ANR.StateLandsPlanning@vermont.gov (subject line: "ANR Planning Rule")
Make a verbal comment at one of the upcoming public hearings, listed above (RSVP here)
Comment deadline: 11:59:59pm on June 18th, 2026
BACKGROUND:
After four years of campaigning by Standing Trees, including two lawsuits and a mountain of public pressure from people like you, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) has formally commenced rulemaking for state land management planning, including standards for how the public will be involved in decision making.
Take a moment and celebrate! This is a big deal...no state has ever done this before in New England, and we have a chance to set a high bar in Vermont.
For decades, the state of Vermont has issued management plans for landscapes like Mt Mansfield State Forest, Lake Willoughby, Groton State Forest, Camel's Hump State Park, the Worcester Range, and many other beloved areas without ever issuing rules, or a set of legal requirements that ensures transparency and accountability in decision-making. By relying on internal policies (some of which are nowhere to be found on state government websites) that can be bent and broken at will, the state has effectively made land management planning into a "choose-your-own-adventure" exercise where the state can manufacture the process and outcome to suit its own ends, cutting the public out of public lands.
What does this mean in practice? It means ANR doesn’t think you deserve to know or weigh in if a new logging road threatens your favorite fishing spot, before a timber sale is approved along your favorite trail, or before spraying herbicides near your favorite swimming hole. If you live in a community downstream from a state forest — and many of us do, since 90% of state lands are located in headwaters — good luck. ANR doesn’t plan to notify you or ask for your input about logging that could put your home or neighborhood at greater risk of flooding.
Now, here's the rub: Vermont ANR's proposed rule doesn't (yet) correct the unfair and undemocratic power dynamic that has dominated state land management in the Green Mountain State and across New England. But that's where you come in.
Speak up now with a written or verbal comment to make sure that the final rule guarantees a seat at the decision-making table for you, for me, and for future generations.
TAKE ACTION:
Please submit a comment by 11:59:59pm on Thursday, June 18th, 2026. Please feel free to use the sample comment below, and add or subtract any content you would like. The more personal you make the comment, the better. Why do state lands matter to you? Why do you think the public should have a say in decisions? Thanks for taking action!
TO:
SUBJECT:
"ANR Planning Rule"
BODY OF EMAIL:
Hannah Phillips, State Lands Administration Program Manager
Agency of Natural Resources
Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation
1 National Life Drive, Davis 2
Montpelier, VT 05620-3801
Dear Ms Phillips,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the VT ANR draft Lands Management Planning Rule. For decades, the state of Vermont has issued management plans for landscapes like Camel's Hump State Park, CC Putnam State Forest, and many other beloved areas without first issuing rules, or a set of legal requirements that ensures transparency and accountability in decision-making. These treasured places belong to all Vermonters, and ANR is entrusted with caring for them on behalf of the public.
This rulemaking is an opportunity to ensure that the public has full access to the same information as Vermont ANR staff and to ensure that the public has an opportunity to meaningfully engage in and shape land management planning and decision-making. This is also an important moment to take stock of the unique value of state lands, and to consider how they might be managed differently into the future to help our state mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, stave off the loss of biodiversity, and reverse the declining trend in water quality in our rivers, lakes, and ponds.
Major concerns with the draft Lands Management Planning Rule include the following:
This rulemaking is about putting the "public" in public lands, but the VT ANR draft rule continues to keep the public at arm's length. The draft prevents meaningful public comment and evades transparency and accountability in the development and implementation of management plans, as well as actions on the ground such as timber sales. The rule should:
Clearly describe when the public will have an opportunity to weigh in on draft Long Range Management Plans, draft Interim Stewardship Plans, draft Management Actions, draft Statewide Plans, and any amendments.
Require ANR to notify the public about pending management actions like timber sales, trail and road construction, and herbicide applications, and provide an opportunity for public comments on the record.
Require VT ANR to post to its website all relevant analyses and planning documents so that the public has full access to the information that supports the state's decisions, in order to help the public develop its comments.
Clearly state when and how the agency will make a final decision, how the public will be notified about decisions, and how a decision can be challenged in court.
Nothing in the draft Land Management Planning Rule gives Vermonters the assurance they deserve that the state will prioritize flood risk reduction, carbon storage, biodiversity protection, and clean water when developing future management plans. In the face of devastating floods, worsening water pollution in our lakes and ponds, and the potential extinction or extirpation of numerous state and federally-listed endangered species, VT ANR must reprioritize and rebalance land uses. A well-crafted final rule will help to ensure that ecosystem services and habitat protection are prioritized over logging in future management plans.
As currently written in the draft, after a Long Range Management Plan is issued, the public will have no further opportunities for meaningful input on or review of the state's implementation for the duration of a plan, which could last well over 20 years. That amounts to a whole generation of Vermonters who will have zero input on the management of state lands in landscapes such as Camel's Hump or the Worcester Range, for example, until those plans are revised two or more decades from now. Moreover, Vermont ANR claims that final decisions about where to harvest timber or build roads occur after a management plan is finalized, but these analyses and decisions will occur behind closed doors according to the draft rule. Not only is this unethical and a betrayal of the public's trust, it also prevents a plan from evolving and adapting to the latest science. To correct this deficiency, Vermont ANR must issue notifications for any management action, whether or not it tiers to a Long Range Management Plan, and it must provide detailed information and time for public review and comment on the state's site-specific analysis.
Vermont ANR must provide reasonable public notification and comment opportunities. The draft rule would commit ANR to nothing more than issuing a press release and posting information on its website to notify the public of decisions that could impact state lands for decades to come. Requiring at least one virtual meeting is the bare minimum necessary to ensure that working Vermonters, disabled Vermonters, and caregivers - among others - are able to learn and participate in public processes. The state should be required to alert any citizen who has registered for updates via email, and it should hold at least two public meetings - one in person and one virtual (or hybrid) - for every comment period.
Making matters significantly worse, the draft rule creates enormous loopholes, called "Universal Management Actions" (UMAs), that would allow the state to conduct a wide variety of management actions without any public notification, comment periods, or accountability. For example, VT ANR proposes to allow "forest health mitigation activities such as treatment or removal of disease trees" and "limited habitat management and enhancement activities" without first issuing a management plan, and without providing any opportunity for public comment. Such vast exemptions from transparency and accountability could allow VT ANR to conduct major logging, herbicide spraying, and road building projects without any prior planning or public scrutiny. These exemptions are so broad that they virtually make the rest of the provisions in the draft rule null and void. VT ANR could simply rely on Universal Management Actions and avoid any planning requirements or public oversight. The final rule should ensure that the public is provided with notification and comment opportunities for any proposed Universal Management Action so that the UMAs do not subvert the rest of the rule.
Thank you for offering this opportunity to comment on the draft Lands Management Planning Rule.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME HERE
Thanks for taking a stand for public forests!
Comments