NWF: Governor’s Veto of Climate Change Bill Hurts Vermont's Wildlife

By Steve Wright

Those of us who hunt and fish in Vermont should be concerned that Governor Jim Douglas recently vetoed the first major piece of climate change legislation Vermont has ever seen. Climate change – or global warming (take your pick) – is the single greatest threat to Vermont’s wildlife—all species—in history. Human responses to this threat will be the measure of us as “intelligent” animals for eternity.
Hunters and anglers spend a lot of time in the outdoors and can speak to all sorts of evidence that the climate is changing. Shorter, wetter winters, later-forming and thinner lake ice, more ticks, and the northern advancement of typically more southern birds—turkey vultures, cardinals, and mourning doves for example. And gray squirrels in the Northeast Kingdom? Relatively common these days.
Projections of warmer stream temperatures in the coming years don’t bode well for brook trout and Vermont maple producers can’t feel good about climate models indicating that someday the southern range for the sugar maple will end in Canada.
We have only a little time to change our behaviors and protect our natural heritage from the worst effects of global warming. Brook trout, ruffed grouse, songbirds, moose, insects—the entire arena of species with which we share the planet – depend on us to take serious action today. And, given the reality that all living things are connected, human lives may depend on that as well. To secure a better future for our children and grandchildren – a future at all – Vermont must join other state, national and world leaders in taking serious action to combat climate change.
Recognizing the enormity of the threat we face, and the widespread concern of Vermonters, the Legislature took a bold first step with the passage of H. 520, a bill that contains critical provisions to reduce global warming pollution, save Vermonters money on energy bills, and create new high-quality jobs close to home. This forward-thinking measure is needed to address the challenge of global warming with the level of urgency it requires now!
Vermont’s fish and wildlife resources not only are important to us personally and ecologically, they are highly-valued economically. Each year, approximately 150,000 Vermonters purchase hunting and/or fishing licenses. Non-residents represent another 50,000 or so—and pay much higher fees than we residents. Licenses and permits from both sources fund the Fish and Wildlife Department and over the past 20 years these have been in serious decline because fewer people are hunting and/or fishing. That means less money for a department that is expected to do more and more every year.
The fees that many of us pay to enjoy hunting and fishing and the associated expenditures add up significantly. Overall, fishing represents well more than a $100 million annual contribution to Vermont’s economy. Hunters contribute around $70 million. Staring at the pile of fishing gear on my living room floor – that recently replaced a small mountain of turkey hunting gear - I can easily understand the economic effect.
Many people who do not hunt and fish in Vermont enjoy wildlife watching as its own ‘sport.’ In fact, their overall contribution to Vermont’s economy is greater than those who do hunt and fish – showing up in expenditures such as lodging, meals, retail sales, and gasoline and other taxes, etc. And the wildlife they watch is very much threatened by predicted changes in Vermont’s climate.
Clearly, Vermont’s wildlife is a powerful economic driver. The threat of climate change to these traditions – and the associated businesses they feed – is also powerful. That’s why it is so troubling that the Governor has vetoed a bill essential to protecting these resources.
We humans have upset the apple cart, plain and simple. Given these effects, and the Governor’s often-professed interest in the importance of our fish and wildlife resources, one would expect his support of H.520—a piece of critical and forward-looking legislation addressing global warming in our own backyards.
Can Vermont solve this global problem on our own? Of course not. But we need to do our part, and the Governor’s veto reflects an unacceptable short-sightedness at a critical time. It is now up to Vermont’s legislators who represent each and every one of us to take a stand and override the Governor’s ill-conceived veto. The future of Vermont’s fish and wildlife resources, and the future we leave to our kids, depends on the decisions we make today to protect them.

Steve Wright is a regional representative for the National Wildlife Federation’s Northeast Natural Resource Center in Montpelier, Vt. He is a former Commissioner of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. Reach Steve at 802-229-0650, ext. 312 or wrights@nwf.org