Print this page (pdf file)

The federal public forest contains 400,000 acres of forests and valleys where Vermonters take their families to hike, hunt, backpack and fish. Thousands of visitors also flock north to the Green Mountains each fall to watch nature's changing face in the autumn leaves.

These visitors and the dollars they bring to the state create jobs. In fact 96 percent of the economic benefits from the National Forest derive from recreation and tourism. Healthy watersheds are also the source of much of the clean water for the 53 towns that lie within the Forest's boundaries.

The Green Mountain National Forest is the largest contiguous landholding in the state of Vermont which makes it of paramount importance as wildlife habitat. This large block of land provides the space and type of forest needed for the black bear, songbirds such as the Bicknells' thrush and unique medium-sized carnivores such as the pine marten and fisher.

Threats to the Green Mountain National Forest and its special environmental and economic values are rising as the Forest Service is developing a new management plan. While no summer off-road vehicle (ORV) use is currently allowed, the agency is proposing to open roads and build new off-road trails on almost half of the entire National Forest. In the same draft plan the Forest Service is proposing to not only increase the amount of logging but also to use even-aged management (a form of clearcutting) for over three-quarters of all logging operations.

This increase provides a great threat to the Green Mountain's rare wild roadless forests, some of the last in the Northeast. There is no reason to destroy the economic benefits of these rare wild forests by subsidizing more commercial logging.

The Sierra Club is encouraging the Forest Service to move into the new century by working to protect these wild forests, recommend additional new wilderness areas, and create new jobs by investing in forest restoration instead of misleading the public and continuing a damaging commercial logging program.

For more information contact Kim Marion at kimberly.marion@sierraclub.org.