Wilderness Bill Signed Into Law!

On December 1, President Bush signed into law the New England Wilderness Act of 2006, adding 42,000 acres of permanently protected wild lands to the Green Mountain National Forest. Now off limits to motorized recreation and logging, these wild lands will offer visitors unparalleled remote backcountry opportunities to hike, fish, hunt, and explore.

VNRC Wins Important National Victory for Wildlife, Forests

The nation’s national forest lands and wildlife are safer now, thanks in large part to a lawsuit filed by VNRC and other leading environmental groups. In an exciting victory, a federal court judge on March 30, 2007 put the brakes on the Bush administration’s implementation of its environmentally harmful forest planning regulations.

Green Mountain National Forest Plan Released

Updated 4/18: On March 22, 2006 the U.S. Forest Service released its final management plan for the 400,000-acre Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF). Located in southern and central Vermont, the national forest attracts thousands of visitors each year, providing exceptional recreational opportunities for hunting, fishing, skiing, hiking, camping, and wildlife watching. The GMNF is home to a variety of plants, animals and important natural communities and it provides Vermonters with clean water, timber resources, and the chance to experience quiet backcountry solitude.

Vermont Wilderness Act of 2006 Introduced

On Thursday April 6, 2006 the Vermont Wilderness Act of 2006 was introduced to designate close to 50,000 acres additional Wilderness Areas and a new Moosalamoo National Recreation Area on the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF). The bill offers substantial protection to important areas on the GMNF, but leaves out several ecologically significant areas that VNRC supported as part of a Vermont Wilderness Association proposal.

Wilderness: Part of a Balanced Management Strategy

Why More Vermont Wilderness?

Decision Misses Key Opportunity to Protect Pristine Streams

On August 9, 2005 the Water Resources Board (Board) issued a setback to the designation of sixty-six waters on the Green Mountain National Forest Service (GMNF) as Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW). VNRC and Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), along with individual citizens, filed a Petition with the Board seeking protection for certain headwater streams, lakes and ponds, and wetlands on the GMNF. An ORW designation would have required that water quality be maintained and protected in the individual waters and their tributaries.