’Tis the season for environmental consciousness. You can feel it in the air: The buds are popping, the tires are slinging mud, the conversation has turned from the depth of the pow to the preparedness of raised beds. Earth Day is just around the corner.
There’s a lot one can do to show solidarity for the movement in preparation for this holiest of environmental days: plant a pollinator garden, participate in no-mow-May, hit the streets for Vermont’s Green Up Day or save some salamanders.
Jericho resident Bernie Paquette has another item for the list, and it’s one he intends to bring before state legislators once he’s gathered enough information to plead his case — a feat he says could be a years-long process.
The request? That Vermonters dedicate one day each year (at least) to removing invasive species.
Paquette, an avid birder, grew interested in the matter when he learned of the harm invasive honeysuckle can wreak on local bird populations.
But he isn’t just focused on invasive plants. And right now, Vermont, like many other places, is subject to threats from a range of invasive species. The emerald ash borer, for example, has already arrived. Some worry that others, such as the round goby (a fish traveling up canals connected to Lake Champlain) and the spotted lanternfly (a bug that has caused destruction in other states), could be on their way.
It’s one thing to worry, Paquette said. “But the next step for them is, what do I do about it?”
For Paquette, a possible answer is an annual Vermont Invasive Species Management Day, which he imagines would take place the Saturday after Green Up Day.
How would such a day aid in the fight against invasives? Other than raising awareness about the less pull-able species, the day would address two barriers that the common Vermonter might face, should they feel motivated to take action.
One, Paquette said, is knowledge. Each invasive requires correct identification (destroying a native plant would work against the motive, here) and its own removal strategy. While some plants can simply be cut down, others proliferate if they’re handled incorrectly.
The second is organizing. Teamwork makes the dream work, and a state program could more reliably gather the masses than, say, a single conservation organization, Paquette reasoned.
Paquette began contacting organizations in December, and said he’s reached out to 140 different groups that might be interested in the work. So far, he’s received letters of support from about 25.
And while he’s received some preliminary acknowledgement from legislators — “I vaguely recollect the Invasive Species Day in Vermont emails, I’d have to go back and look at ’em,” said Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, who chairs the natural resources and energy committee — Paquette is planning to wait until he hears from more groups before he makes his request official.
Besides, he said, any substantive action will need to be sustained beyond a single day, and it isn’t too early to start. For now, he encourages Vermonters to visit a website, vtinvasives.org, which he studied before he began removing invasives.
While many climate and environmental problems might feel too intangible for a single person to fix, Paquette imagines that an Invasive Species Management Day might bring one issue closer to home.
“Once you’ve informed yourself,” he said, “definitely start with your own backyard.”
— Emma Cotton
Final Reading is VTDigger’s inside guide to the Statehouse, delivered to your inbox Tuesday through Friday evenings. Sign up here.
IN THE KNOW
As the Senate moves forward with S.39, a bill that would increase legislators’ pay and qualify them for health care benefits, Republican Gov. Phil Scott told reporters at a Friday press conference that he supports the effort — with a caveat.
Members of Vermont’s part-time Legislature, which convenes for four to six months out of the year (adjournment is a moving target), earn roughly $13,000 per year, despite what they say are the job’s year-round commitments. Proponents of S.39 say that the low pay means only Vermonters with highly flexible workplaces, or who are retired, self-employed or independently wealthy, can afford to serve. And if they have young kids, forget about it; there are currently no child care benefits for lawmakers.
A number of lawmakers in recent years, particularly young ones, say they’ve been forced to bow out, unable to succeed in the balancing act.
Scott said he understands that the current pay scale can lead to a less representative legislature. “If some of the thought is that this will attract more people to run for the Legislature, I’m in favor of that,” he said.
But, he added, he sees a bigger problem: the length of Vermont’s legislative session. And without a fixed deadline set in statute, he said the unpredictability of the time commitment is a major issue for anyone who wants to serve.
So he made a counter-offer: If the Legislature wants to raise its pay, shorten the session.
“I view this as a contract, over maybe a 90-day period,” Scott told reporters. “Get them in. Get them out.”
Asked if he thinks it’s a tough political sell for lawmakers to raise legislative pay in a time of record inflation, Scott answered affirmatively.
“I don’t think the everyday Vermonter would understand that,” he said.
— Sarah Mearhoff
Vermont’s policymakers have known for years that as more people opt to buy electric vehicles, the money the state brings in from its gasoline tax will decline significantly.
That’s led to a conundrum: Officials want to replace that cash — which pays for vital infrastructure projects and constitutes more than a quarter of all state transportation revenue — while still encouraging Vermonters to switch to electric. This year’s omnibus transportation bill, H.479, tasks officials with fleshing out a solution.
The legislation, which cleared the Vermont House last month and is now in the Senate, would charge the Agency of Transportation with designing a system by July 1, 2025, to charge electric vehicle drivers a fee based on how many miles they drive.
— Shaun Robinson
WHAT WE’RE READING
Now that 2 state troopers have resigned over offensive off-duty behavior, what happens next? (VTDigger)
Burlington Chief Threatened to Arrest Doc Who Was Treating Gunshot Victim, Hospital Says (Seven Days)
Stowe farmers pay more to pay a lot less in taxes (Stowe Reporter)
