Editor’s note: This commentary is by David Brynn, the executive director of Vermont Family Forests.
On Nov. 20, the State of Vermont published a draft proposal on the cleanup of Lake Champlain. The document was intended to stimulate discussion. It will!
The 30-page report devotes less than three pages to forestry but the brief proposals are breathtaking in their scope and worth careful consideration.
The report states that “efforts to reduce all sources of phosphorus have been accelerated in the past ten years” but the lake has been very slow to respond. Many reasons were cited but the report suggests that the primary reason is that we have not done enough.
“Vermont’s Acceptable Management Practices for Maintaining Water Quality on Logging Operations” was published in 1987. It contains 24 voluntary practices that have been shown to be very effective in maintaining water quality on logging operations when fully implemented. However, for a variety of reasons including cost, compliance levels are rarely if ever full.
When forests produce high quality water supplies, they are well on their way to being healthy and resilient.
The report suggests that we focus efforts on stream crossings and sources of overland flow such as skid trails and truck roads. It also suggests making the Acceptable Management Practices (AMPs) mandatory on 60 percent of Vermont’s 4.6 million acres of forestland. Specifically, the AMPs would be mandatory on forests enrolled in the Use Value Assessment Program, state and federal forests, and forests conserved through the Forest Legacy Program.
This approach represents a major change in the way we approach forestry in Vermont. If adopted it will take time and technical assistance to implement. It will also require rethinking our cost-share program priorities.
The new approach will require that we reassess the priorities of the all-important Current Use Program. Its primary focus to date has been on the production of timber, sap, and, to a limited extent, enhanced habitat. Landowners have been required to jump through certain hoops to remain in compliance. It may well be time to reduce or even eliminate these hoops. Private landowners should be informed but not required to manage their forests for certain crops in certain ways.
Focusing much more of our attention on water as a forest ecosystem service is a wise approach. Flowing waters belong to all of the people of Vermont. They are part of our common heritage. We all have an interest in their conservation.
When forests produce high quality water supplies, they are well on their way to being healthy and resilient – two essential elements as we seek to conserve our forests in the face of a rapidly changing climate.
Forestry has been evolving since its inception. In the early days the focus was on producing high quality trees “ripe and ready for the axe.” This was called “wise use” or “practical forestry.” The state’s bold report calls for a significant shift in our forest conservation strategy.
Now is the time to open up to these sweeping changes.
