[B]URLINGTON — Vermont lost 42,000 acres of forest blocks larger than 50 acres in size between 2003 and 2009, according to Jamey Fidel, a forest and wildlife scientist with the Vermont Natural Resources Council.
Forest fragmentation — as well as erosion, pollution, development and damming of rivers — have caused a loss of wildlife habitat in Vermont. The Endangered Species Act, he said, was designed to curb these trends.
Fidel was speaking to a crowd of environmental advocates, state and federal officials, and residents gathered at the ECHO Center in Burlington Thursday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Act.
Conservationists are now rethinking how to protect endangered and threatened species. In Vermont, protecting wildlife begins with conserving their habitat.
“There is no available data to know whether Vermont’s total forest cover grew since 2002, but large blocks of continuous forest needed for wildlife to thrive have declined,” according to Fidel. To make matters worse, housing stock is spreading, adding roads and infrastructure into the mix.
“There is still time to concentrate on what these land use trends are showing us and adjust to it and hopefully curb the parcelization trend,” he said.
Vermont’s endangered species law requires a permit to hunt, trap, transport or uproot endangered or threatened species. State land use and development, wetland, water quality and other state environmental permits include provisions related to impact on endangered species.
Fidel said Act 250, the state’s land use and development law, does not consider the impact of forest fragmentation. And even if it did, he said many new subdivisions are built without obtaining an Act 250 permit. The Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation is drafting a legislative report on forest fragmentation.
Forest fragmentation is not the only issue affecting wildlife populations; the chief concern is climate change, which is causing some species to migrate further north in search of a suitable habitat, according to Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.
“We need a fundamental rethinking about how we protect some of these species,” O’Mara said during the symposium’s keynote address. “And in some cases, it may be actual relocation, it may be actually creating new habitat.”
Another challenge, according to O’Mara: Congressional Republicans and commercial interests are waging smarter attacks against the federal law. But he argued that the economic benefits of protecting endangered and threatened species is measurable, and support the need to preserve “treasured landscapes” for future generations.
“We need to speak for wildlife. They can’t speak for themselves,” he said. “These bedrock laws that are under constant assault need your help right now.”
Chris Kilian, vice president and director of the Conservation Law Foundation, said it is time to revisit Vermont’s law on endangered and threatened species.
Among his concerns, he cited exemptions for agricultural development, the limited opportunity for public involvement in processes related to wildlife impacts, few state-initiated success stories, and the pace of the state’s record-keeping.
The state requires a permit to affect the populations of state-designated endangered or threatened species, but Kilian said the fees, which range fro $250 to $1,000 according to a state official, are a joke.
“It’s cheaper to violate and pay and face what the state might bring by way of enforcement action,” Kilian said. “Thats a real problem.”
Deb Markowitz, Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, said she agrees that the law can be improved, and the agency is looking forward to to engaging with conservation groups going forward.
The state does have some success stories, according to Kim Royar of the Department of Fish and Wildlife. She said in 1980, the state had 10 to 12 nesting loons, and in 2013, that number rebounded to 80. She said the state had zero bald eagles in 2008, but in 2013 recorded 26 nests.
“The recovery continues. We have really had some major successes,” Royar said. But, she said addressing one species at a time is expensive, and sometimes fails. She said protecting habitat is the best way to protect species.
She said there are other threats to wildlife populations, such as a fungus for a species of rattlesnake or white nose syndrome for certain bat species. She said the state is preparing to list three bumblebee species as endangered due to the spread of a fungus.
Royar said the state is at a crossroads: forest fragmentation and climate change, which is yet to be fully realized, can overwhelm preservation efforts.
“Who knows what is going to happen in the future. And we’re going to just have to work harder,” she said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said total forest cover is increasing. Forest cover decreased 0.5 percent annually from 1991 to 2002, and since then, there is no data on total forest cover trends in Vermont, according to the Vermont Natural Resources Council.