Land, regardless of ownership, is part of our commonwealth. I say this because we all have a common interest or share in land and we all reap its benefits, just as we do with the air, water and wildlife of our planet. Even the youngest school child knows that the health and well-being of all creatures depend on our proper relationship with and care for the land, air and water. We all know that if any of us fouls the air, taints the water or harms the land we could harm not just ourselves, but our neighbors--human and wild, now and in the future.
This inescapable common interest we have in land creates two sets of obligations. Private landowners have an obligation to use the land in a way that does not impair the public's rightful, long-term interest in it. And, the public has the obligation to see that private landowners properly use and care for the land, and thereby protect the public's interest in it. The public, acting through its government, does this by demonstrating good land stewardship to private landowners, enacting tax and economic incentives that enable private landowners to afford to be good stewards, and by enacting and enforcing land use laws and regulations. When our common interests in land exceed what we can reasonably expect private landowners to provide then we, the public, must buy land.
Private forest land, if properly managed, provides the public with many benefits including clean water, wildlife habitats, timber, and scenic views. And, when private forest landowners allow public access then the land might also provide opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, skiing, and other recreational uses.
Public land acquisition is needed when private landowners lack the economic incentives to provide certain public goods and/or when they cannot be relied on to do so indefinitely. These include such things as large blocks of wild forest, remote areas for backcountry recreation, guaranteed public access, and protection of unique and scarce natural and cultural features. By providing these and other public benefits that are relatively scarce and/or valuable, public land increases the economic, environmental and social well-being--commonwealth--of our state and region.
Vermont has an abundant supply of private forestland that can provide us with timber and other public benefits, but public land in Vermont is scarce and precious. To increase the commonwealth of the state and the region, we clearly need more public land and we need to manage it to provide what private forestland does not.
There is no shortage of wood and private timberland, especially those held by small, non-industrial landowners, can easily meet society's demand for it. According to US Forest Service data: forestland covers about 77 percent of Vermont; timberland--forestland available and capable of growing timber--makes up 98 percent of Vermont forests; and 80 percent of Vermont timberland is owned by small, non-industrial private landowners, 10 percent is owned by industrial landowners and 10 percent is publicly owned. Only about half of the net annual growth of wood on Vermont timberland is being cut each year and only two percent of that cut is coming from public land. If all public land ceased to be managed for timber production, private land could easily make up the difference.
On the other hand, there is a shortage of wild forests--roadless areas reserved from timber production and other forms of human domination--in Vermont and New England, and only public land can provide them because there are no economic incentives for private landowners to do so. Currently, a mere one percent of all Vermont's forestland is reserved from timber production and the six Wildernesses on the Green Mountain National Forest account for most of it. Five percent of the nation's forests are reserved from timber production, as are eight percent of the forests in the Pacific Northwest. We need more wild, self-willed forests.
Times have changed and it is now clear that industrial-scale logging is entirely inappropriate for Vermont's public forests. To the extent that logging is done on public land, it should be aimed at demonstrating small-scale, low-impact, ecological forestry. Education about and demonstration of a forestry that mimics nature is an appropriate role of public land because it would help to promote our common interests and enhance our commonwealth on the eighty percent of our timberland that is held by small, non-industrial forest landowners.
As a society, we have an obligation to make public investments in our forests--private and public--in order to ensure a steady, uninterrupted supply of a full range of public benefits in the future. These investments should include provision of special tax incentives or purchase of conservation easements that enable private landowners to keep their land undeveloped, under sound timber management and open to public recreation access. Our investments must also include the purchase of public land in order to provide an ample supply of the public benefits that private land does not or cannot be relied on to provide. Wild forests, not logs, should be at the top of the list.
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