Something for everyone
Commissioner Danielle Fitzko, Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation
Vermont’s state lands are quiet places where trees grow tall, streams run clear, and wildlife fills the forest from canopy to floor. They are the working forests where loggers head out in the freezing dawn to provide wood for homes and supply the local elementary school with heat. They are the trails to secret swimming holes. They are where hunters wait at first light, skiers glide through fresh snow, and people go simply to be alone for a while.
And beyond what we see or touch, these lands quietly work for all of us—protecting clean water, providing wildlife habitat, storing and sequestering carbon, buffering floods, and helping Vermont adapt to a changing climate. Caring for our state lands and making decisions that protect the long-term health of their ecosystems, and the public benefits they provide, is among the state’s most complex responsibilities.
This work is not about choosing one value over another. It is about balance, place, and purpose.
The challenge to find this balance, however, is growing. The role Vermont’s forests play in climate mitigation and providing places where all people feel welcome has never been more important. At the same time, climate change is altering forest health and disturbance patterns, while introduced invasive species threaten long-term resilience. Meeting these challenges requires thoughtful decisions, a diverse set of tools, and the expertise and capacity to apply them effectively.
At the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), our approach to long-range planning begins with understanding the land itself. Our scientists perform detailed analysis of twelve factors that inform the long-term direction of a plan meant to guide how we care for these lands for the next 20 years, or more. Staff consider water resources, climate change, historic and cultural resources, recreational uses and assets, forest health and resiliency, wildlife habitat, natural communities, and the presence of rare, threatened, or endangered species, among other factors.
Just as important, the team embarks on a robust public engagement process. We ask Vermonters what they want from their public lands, and we listen.
What we hear is always diverse and often conflicting: calls for more wildlands and more timber harvesting; more trails, fewer trails, and adaptive trails; more parking, less parking; more management for wildlife habitat and opportunities for hunting and angling; preservation of viewsheds. Vermonters care deeply about these lands, but they do not all value the same things in the same places.
Our responsibility is to consider all of the pieces together—public priorities, scientific expertise, regional context, and federal and state law—to develop long-range management plans that serve the long-term public interest.
The Worcester Range Management Unit offers a clear example of how planning evolves in response to new information. Through public input, we heard strong calls to increase the number of acres to grow with minimal intervention. At the same time, completion of the statewide inventory of conserved lands required by Act 59 provided new insight into underrepresented old-forest conditions in the management unit.
In response, we changed the approach for more than 5,000 acres from active forest practices aimed at building resilience to one of minimal intervention. That decision meant fewer acres focused on improving wildlife habitat, which often requires selective timber harvests to create the diverse forest structure that some species need. Responsible stewardship means acknowledging those tradeoffs and making informed, intentional choices about how we use our public lands.
Once plans are finalized through public process, they are implemented professionally, with interdisciplinary review by ANR staff—including wildlife biologists, ecologists, foresters, watershed planners, recreational specialists, and others. Management actions are subject to the same permitting requirements that apply to any landowner. And every year, planned actions are also reviewed against conditions on the ground, to ensure they remain appropriate.
None of this means every decision—or any decision—will satisfy everyone.
Vermonters’ relationship with our public lands is deep and complex. Debate about how public lands are cared for and used reflects a shared sense of responsibility for their future. Those conversations should continue and are strongest when grounded in respect, a willingness to listen, and the recognition that no single perspective holds all the answers.
Vermont’s state lands belong to all of us. You can support them by attending public meetings, commenting on draft plans, and sharing what matters most to you. Protecting these lands—in all their beauty and utility—for future generations will take all of us working together.
Danielle Fitzko is the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation.