Vermont Wilderness


Vermont Wilderness In April of this year, the Vermont congressional delegation introduced the Vermont Wilderness Act of 2006. This is the first wilderness legislation Vermont has had since passage of a wilderness bill more than two decades ago. Currently, Vermont's total wilderness acreage stands at about 60,000 acres, all of it within the Green Mountain National Forest. Over the last twenty years, the national forest has expanded by 100,000 acres; scientists have documented the vital need to protect large, unmanipulated landscapes to conserve the full array of wildlife species; and the impact of human population growth and development in our state and region continues to spread. In response, conservation groups and concerned citizens determined it was reasonable and necessary to achieve lasting wilderness protection for more than a mere 1 percent of Vermont's land area. Forest Watch, along with other members of the Vermont Wilderness Association, has been promoting a new wilderness proposal for nearly the last decade. The proposal began with about 78,000 acres of new wilderness areas and additions to existing wilderness areas. In the last two years, further study of the lands potentially suitable for wilderness on the Green Mountain National Forest led to the expansion of the proposal, to about 100,000 acres. The Vermont delegation's wilderness legislation as currently written is about 48,000 acres: a good start, but more wilderness is needed. Vital areas such as the Lye Brook-Glastenbury wilderness complex, Lamb Brook, and Abbey Pond were either shortchanged or overlooked completely. While this Vermont Wilderness web page is still under development, Forest Watch invites you to become better informed about the wild places deserving of lasting protection, and how you can help. --See our latest issue of Visions (742kb PDF) to read more about the Vermont Wilderness Act of 2006. --Take action to protect more wilderness on the Green Mountain National Forest. --View maps of the areas proposed for wilderness designation in the Vermont Wilderness Act of 2006. Congressionally Designated Areas - South Half (2.8MB PDF) Congressionally Designated Areas - North Half (2.1MB PDF) Lye Brook Wilderness Addition (3.3MB PDF) Glastenbury Wilderness (3.5MB PDF) Breadloaf Wilderness Additions (2.4MB PDF) Big Branch & Peru Peak Wilderness Additions (2.6MB PDF) Battell Wilderness (2.6MB PDF) Moosalamoo National Recreation Area (2.3MB PDF)
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