About the GMNF Management Plan
In April of 2005 the Forest Service issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Plan for the Green Mountain National Forest. The Final EIS and Plan were released on March 22, 2006. The Plan will guide the activities on the 400,000+ acre forest over the next ten to fifteen years.
The Forest Service received 10,003 public comments on the Draft Plan. The vast majority of the letters asked for significant wilderness additions and an outright ban on recreational ATVs. Many cited the legal flaws in the Forest Service's roadless inventory and wilderness evaluation processes.
In the end, these comments were ignored by the agency. The Final Plan recommends only 27,473 acres of new wilderness-far short of the acreage (80,000) originally requested by the VWA and the total acreage of roadless areas that exist on the Forest (117,000 acres inventoried, and many more acres overlooked).
The Forest Service's Own Analysis Shows Outstanding Opportunities for More Wilderness
The Forest Service's analysis showed that the Green Mountain National Forest could support substantially more wilderness without significantly decreasing opportunities for timber harvesting or motorized recreation.
| National Forest Use or Value |
Alternative with 50,000 acres of wilderness |
Alternative with 18,000 acres of wilderness |
| Maximum level of annual timber harvest |
16.0 million board feet |
16.8 million board feet |
| Vegetation management of deer yards |
75% of deer wintering yards |
73% of deer wintering yards |
| Areas managed for early successional habitat |
57% of GMNF |
63% of GMNF |
| Areas managed for remote wildlife habitat |
51% of GMNF |
41% of GMNF |
| Areas potentially open to future snowmobile trails |
51% of GMNF |
60% of GMNF |
| Areas potentially open to future ATV trails |
41% of GMNF |
47% of GMNF |
Final Plan Adds Wilderness-Much More Is Needed
The Final Forest Service Plan has taken a step in the right direction by recommending 27,000 acres for congressional designation as wilderness. The Draft Plan recommended only 17,000 acres.
The VWA is especially glad the Forest Service recognized the value of substantially increasing the size of the proposed Glastenbury Wilderness. It provides the biggest, best opportunity for wilderness in all of Vermont.
We are also pleased to see some of the lands formerly owned by Joseph Battell proposed as wilderness. Upon his death, Battell asked that these lands be kept wild and unlogged, and wilderness designation is the best way to ensure this happens.
However, the Forest Service's recommendations for wilderness do not go nearly far enough. Several potential new wilderness areas and many logical additions to existing wilderness areas were ignored completely.
We hope the Vermont congressional delegation will step in and pick up where the Forest Service left off, proposing even more wilderness before new roads, ATV trails, snowmobile trails or other developments make that impossible
Additional Resources
Click here to read a Burlington Free Press editorial on why ATVs should not be permitted on the Green Mountain National Forest
Click here to read an opinion piece by Jim Furnish, the former Deputy Director of the US Forest Service, on the damage ATVs are doing to our national forests.
Click here to read our statement on the Green Mountain National Forest Management Plan.
