Forest and Habitat Fragmentation Campaign

A combination of forces are increasing land fragmentation and promoting unsustainable land use patterns in Vermont. Rising property taxes, booming real estate markets, and unsustainable land use planning are promoting the development of privately owned forestland. This development is resulting in shrinking parcel ownership and fragmented forests. The number of non-industrial private landowners in Vermont has increased from an estimated 61,900 in 1983 to approximately 80,000 in 1997, correlated with a decrease in the average size of a parcel of land.

Since 85 percent of Vermont is in private ownership, this fragmentation trend will continue to have serious impacts on the long-term viability of working forests, forest reserves, and wildlife species that require healthy, unfragmented forests. While other New England states such as New Hampshire have implemented more aggressive programs to help offset forest fragmentation from occurring, Vermont has yet to take adequate steps to curb this problem.

Helping Landowners

New incentives are needed for landowners to protect and restore healthy forestland and wildlife habitat. Tax relief and other options for maintaining forestland should be developed. Planning strategies which reward clustered land development and forestland conservation should be studied and implemented at the state and local level. A combination of new landowner incentives and creative planning mechanisms will help curb the rate of forest fragmentation in Vermont.

Project Goals

• Raise awareness of trends and impacts of fragmentation on forestland and wildlife habitat.

• Raise awareness of incentives for landowners to maintain viable forestland and wildlife habitat.

• Reduce forest fragmentation by promoting landowner incentives and planning strategies.

How to Get There

• Analyze the degree to which privately owned forests and woodlots are remaining undeveloped and available for habitat and forestland conservation.

• Study the effectiveness and limitations of existing property tax relief programs and the degree to which increasing property taxes hinder the ability of landowners to keep their forestland intact without resorting to parcelization development.

• Research new tax relief options for reducing parcelization of forestland.

• Research new strategies for forestland conservation on private land focusing on landowner incentives and land-use and planning models.

• Publish a white paper on specific recommendations on how to decrease continued fragmentation of forestlands in Vermont.

• Advocate for legislative and administrative policies that combine incentives for long-term forest viability and habitat conservation in Vermont.

Contact

Jamey Fidel – Forest Program Director, (802)-223-2328 ext. 117 – jfidel@vnrc.org