On March 22, 2006, the United States Forest Service released their final decision for the plan that will guide the management and protection of the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont for the next 10 to 15 years. The plan calls for an additional 27,473 acres of proposed Wilderness. While this acreage is an increase from the draft plans proposed 17,000 acres of Wilderness, the Vermont Wilderness Association feels that the Wilderness proposed by the Forest Service is inadequate and they are urging their congressional delegation to introduce legislation that would more appropriately protect the wilderness quality lands in the forest.
The plan will allow all-terrain vehicle trail corridors on 45% of the forest. The plan will also allow a maximum annual timber harvest set at 16.4 million board feet.
Background
Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest – the state’s only National Forest - forms the backbone of this idyllic, pastoral state. Visitors hike, ski, camp and explore in its rolling mountains. The Forest Service is currently working on a revision of the Forest Plan for the Green Mountains, which will determine how the forest is managed for the next 10 to 15 years. By law, the plan revision must take into account new scientific data and new patterns of use.
The Forest Service has purchased almost 100,000 acres of land in Vermont over the past 20 years, which has created opportunities to expand several of the existing wilderness areas and to establish several new ones, including the proposed Glastenbury Mountain, Romance and Monastery Mountains Wilderness Areas. The Forest Service identified more than 124,000 acres of roadless land in the National Forest in the early stages of their forest plan revision process. Vermont citizens have been advocating that a large percentage of this roadless land, 80,000 acres, be recommended for wilderness protection in the Forest Plan. However, despite a large number of public comments urging the designation of more Wilderness, the Forest Service’s draft environmental impact statement released in April 2005, only recommended 17,000 acres for Wilderness designation.
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