Progress for our Forest Economy

The central idea of representative democracy is that elected officials represent the needs and interests of those they serve. For the Rural Caucus, that means getting out and hearing from folks on the ground across the state about what’s working and what the challenges are for rural Vermont. 

Earlier this year, the Rural Caucus introduced a package of policies it’s calling the “Rural Economic Development Omnibus Bill”–the first package of its kind aimed at supporting Vermont’s rural communities. A key focus of this particular bill is to simultaneously support Vermont’s forests and Vermont’s forest economy.

Working lands are central to Vermont’s identity and vital to its economy–Vermonters have been working in the woods, playing in the woods, and using wood products for generations. 

But we’re losing forestland at a rate of approximately 11,000 acres per year to development.

Seeking a better understanding of the issues and opportunities, a tri-partisan group legislators–the Rural Caucus–launched an engagement process modeling true representative governance. 

Over thirty fellow legislators and I spent last summer connecting directly with the folks in our communities who know the industry best: loggers, landowners, foresters, researchers and forest-based business owners in every corner of the state.

We heard from Tucker Riggs at LSF Forest Products, one of only two remaining lumber mills in Franklin County, that he wants to expand, but that he’s worried the Act 250’s permitting process was going to be too expensive and take too long at a time of record-high demand for their products. 

We got to spend time hiking around the woods with Jack Bell from Long View Forest learning about the additional pressures climate change is putting on their logging operations. 

Out in Essex County at a Weyerhaeuser Timber harvest site, we got to see a feller buncher in action (which was pretty dang cool) and also we learned about how 99% of wood harvested leaves Vermont to be value-added elsewhere, due to lack of facilities. 

From Chris Brooks at Vermont Wood Pellet Company we saw first hand how Vermont scale pellet mills can create markets for low-grade wood and provide a more efficient and less expensive heating fuel that reduces our dependence on fossil fuels. 

At all the sites, we heard that a thriving, modern forest industry is Vermont’s best tool to ensure healthy, sustainable forests and healthy, sustainable communities. But Vermont’s forestry businesses currently face a slew of threats. Conducting business is expensive, profits are down, interest in the field is declining and state regulations can make it hard to succeed. 

Our group brought everything we heard back to the Rural Caucus where we worked together to draft a series of policies to support Vermont’s forests and forest economy.

The policy recommendations were introduced as a package in the first-ever “Rural Economic Development Omnibus Bill.” They were also introduced as separate bills so that they could be worked on individually by the appropriate committees. 

Over the session, there were many twists and turns. Some pieces came right off the wall and were worked on immediately and in some cases we had to push really hard to get our issues taken up or get witnesses into committee. There was interest and momentum and there were also misunderstandings, there were differences in opinion, and efforts to watered down or stall our efforts.  

But the thing that stood out most was the fact that we had developed the omnibus bill in collaboration with the folks who are doing the work on the ground was critical in advancing the recommendations in the bill. 

And by the end of the session, we had a number of wins that will have an immediate positive effect on Vermont’s forests and forest-based businesses:

• H. 518 allocates $45M to reduce municipal buildings’ dependence on fossil fuels through energy efficiency improvements and systems upgrades like switching to advanced wood heat, thus growing the demand for wood.

• S.226 eases limits on hours of operation included in Act 250 permits for forest-based enterprises. (It has taken six years to pass this!)

• S.161 requires Vermont utility companies to purchase power from the Ryegate power plant–a key market for low-grade wood–until at least 2032, so long as the plant increases its energy efficiency by 50% as of September 1, 2025.

Not part of our omnibus but another win for forests is H.697, an act relating to enrollment in the Use Value Appraisal Program. The bill values and accelerates the development of important forest conditions that we’d benefit from and are sorely lacking on our landscape, by creating a new category in the Current Use program for reserve forestland. This bill settles an unproductive political debate in a meaningful but narrow and conservative way.

I’m humbled and inspired by the human energy it took to accomplish these feats of multi-party, multi-agenda collaboration, though not everything in the omnibus made it through: 

The sweeping Act 250 reform bill, which included a reduction in prime ag soil migration fees for forest products businesses, was vetoed. Our bill to ease transportation regulations for overweight trucks died on the Senate wall. And our funding request for the Vermont Trails and Greenways Council to inform trails management policy didn’t make it into the budget.

Despite these disappointments, we’re celebrating a job well done. It was messy, but it was worth it. Especially because the piece most vital to the future of our forests did pass:

S.11 includes the Vermont Forest Future Roadmap which promises to strengthen, modernize, and promote Vermont’s forest economy. Modeled after the successful Farm-to-Plate Initiative, the forest future roadmap will bring together key stakeholders to create an action plan that identifies infrastructure investments and policy recommendations to ensure a viable future for the industry. 

Development of the roadmap will be a public process much like the process we undertook to write the omnibus bill, and the results of the process will guide future investments and policy changes.

Representatives of forest enterprises, state agencies, investors, forestland owners, recreational stakeholders, loggers, foresters, truckers, sawmill owners, firewood processors, wood products manufacturers, education representatives, and anyone else with perspective to share will be invited to help create a vision for change that will transform the future of Vermont’s forests and forest-based businesses. Critically, the roadmap will come back to the legislature to take action on the recommendations.

Our accomplishments aren’t limited to bills passed. Through this work, we’ve raised awareness about the importance of our forests and forest economy. We’ve given voice to the real Vermonters whose lives are impacted by policy. And we’ve demonstrated that true representative governance isn’t a pipe dream or relic of a simpler time–it’s an option that elected officials can choose. An option we should choose.

This is just the beginning of our work for rural communities. When we dig into creating the roadmap, we need all the voices. We need your voice. Change begins here in our communities when people like you share your experience and ideas. Come together with your neighbors and your representatives to determine where we want to go and how we’re going to get there.