Editor’s note: This commentary is by David Brynn, the executive director of Vermont Family Forests.
The waters of the state of Vermont — be they flowing in a river, seeping through the ground, or staying put for a while in a lake — are held by the people. They are our common waters.
The state of Vermont serves as the trustee of our common waters. Although the state has mechanisms and programs in place to conserve the health and quality of our common waters, these have not been effective largely because the practices have rarely been implemented at a high level. The evidence is in our beautiful-but-polluted great Lake Champlain.
What can be done on shrinking budgets? Lots! A key action is to create more financial incentives for all of us — including public and private landowners, the state of Vermont as trustee, and land trusts — to do our part by keeping our sediment, phosphorus, pesticides and fertilizers out. In other words, the message must be: Keep your stuff out of our common waters.
The message must be: Keep your stuff out of our common waters.
We the people need to do a much better job of helping while insisting that there be significant and expeditious improvements. How?
1. Expand citizen-based water quality monitoring watershed-by-watershed.
2. Identify several key optimal conservation practices (OCPs) including riparian buffers, road drainage and stream crossings that work when used.
3. Develop credible monitoring methods for measuring the degree of OCP compliance by parcel.
4. Start a comprehensive citizen-based monitoring program of OCP compliance focusing first on publicly held lands, conserved lands, and lands enrolled in the Current Use program.
5. Independently evaluate the effectiveness of the state of Vermont as trustee.
6.Tie tax relief, cost-shares, conservation easements, and program funding directly to OCP compliance levels.
7. Celebrate and reward the real stewards.
We can do most if not all of these relatively simple things on existing budgets or less. When we do the quality of our common waters will improve. Not until.
