Leahy Secures $3.15 Million
To Conserve Working Forests
In Chittenden County

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Nov. 6) – Sen. Patrick Leahy has secured $3,150,000 to conserve several tracts of working forestland in Chittenden County. Leahy secured the funds as part of the 2004 budget bill for the Interior Department that passed Congress earlier this week.  He said President Bush will sign the bill.  Leahy is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and of the panel’s Interior Subcommittee, which handled the Senate’s work in writing the bill, which funds the agencies of the Interior Department.

The funds will go to address the priorities of the Chittenden County Uplands Conservation Project, a local initiative to conserve roughly 10,000 acres stretching from the Winooski River to the Mt. Mansfield State Forest.  The most expansive block of woodland remaining in Vermont’s most populous county includes productive managed forest, core wildlife habitat and critical wildlife travel corridors.  Several of the tracts identified by the Uplands Project for conservation are at risk of fragmentation by development.  If converted from forest, the region could not only lose woodlands important for timber production and wildlife habitat, but also traditional recreational activities such as hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and hiking.  Currently, trails in the area include the Long Trail, Catamount Trail and parts of the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST) system.

“These funds will help make sure Vermonters in Chittenden County don’t need to leave Chittenden County to experience the majesty of Vermont’s outdoors,” said Leahy.  “Hunting, fishing, skiing, snowmobiling and hiking will always be minutes away.  The Chittenden County Upland Conservation Project will help ensure that the back country of Chittenden County keeps its rural character with the production of forest products and much-needed wildlife habitat.”

The Chittenden County Uplands Project is a locally driven initiative to conserve the rural back country of the county in accordance with the wishes of area communities.  The partnership includes the Richmond Land Trust, the Jericho-Underhill Land Trust, the Vermont Land Trust, Keeping Track, the Bolton Conservation Commission, the Green Mountain Club, the Catamount Trail Association, the Nature Conservancy and several area landowners.

Lars Botzojorns of the Bolton Conservation Commission appreciated hearing the news.  “So many local partners have been working to conserve these lands.  This funding will give us the opportunity to move forward with landowners interested in conservation easements,” he said.

The funding will be used by the State of Vermont to purchase conservation easements through the federal Forest Legacy program that Leahy authored in the 1990 Farm Bill.  To date, the program has helped the state conserve over 50,000 acres of working forests in Vermont. 



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