Vermont's congressional delegation recently introduced a Vermont Wilderness Bill. This important step will help protect some of the Green Mountain State's most wild, ecologically valuable places - forever. They need our support to ensure this bill receives approval and is as strong as possibly can be. They need to hear from you. Please take a moment and thank our elected officials for their efforts. Let them know how much you value wilderness and encourage them to make the most of this opportunity by expanding the bill to create even more wilderness on our national forest.

Think about it. A few minutes of your time right now can safeguard our remarkable wild spaces in perpetuity.

Consider including some of the points below when making your call or writing your letter to Vermont's congressional delegation and newspapers.

A form letter is also provided at the bottom of the page which can be automatically emailed.

KEY FACTS ABOUT WILDERNESS

• The vast majority of Vermonters want more wilderness.
Eighty percent of Vermonters responding to a recent U.S. Forest Service survey said they want to see remaining undisturbed forests protected. Over 90 percent of Vermont respondents said they do not want to see road building or logging in wild, roadless areas on their national forests.

• The proposal to create new wilderness on the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) is supported by Vermont’s leading environmental groups, all of which are members of the Vermont Wilderness Association(VWA)—the largest coalition of conservation groups actively working on a single campaign in Vermont. The VWA includes 16 organizations and represents tens of thousands of Vermonters.

• Only 1 percent of Vermont is Wilderness. In comparison, the national average is about 4 percent Wilderness, and states such as California and Florida have 15% and 10% Wilderness. New Hampshire has over 2 percent Wilderness.

• Scientists tell us that wilderness areas at least 25,000 to 40,000 acres in size are needed to help protect and restore a region’s diversity of plants and animals. Wilderness areas east of the Mississippi average 27,000 acres in size and New Hampshire has three Wildernesses larger than 25,000 acres. Unfortunately, Vermont doesn’t have a single Wilderness that meets this mimimum size requirement and only one area comes close—the 21,000 acre Breadloaf Wilderness.

• The U.S. Forest Service says “the role of national forests is to provide benefits that private lands cannot provide.” We agree. New England’s scarce and precious public lands should be managed to emphasize wilderness, opportunities for backcountry recreation, and deepwoods habitats.

• The GMNF provides the best opportunities for creating wilderness in Vermont. Since the Vermont Wilderness Act was passed 15 years ago, approximately 100,000 acres of land have been added to the GMNF, creating several excellent opportunities to expand existing Wildernesses and establish large new ones.

• Logging is not allowed in Wilderness, but this will not be a problem because there is no shortage of timber in Vermont. In fact the opposite is true. Statewide newspapers reported that an overabundance of timber in the spring of 2001 reduced wood prices and forced the closure of some mills and logging companies.

• Wilderness designation will not have a significant impact to timber values of the forest. Timber removed from the entire national forest is only about one percent of the annual statewide timber harvest. Furthermore, most of the land in the 2006 Vermont Wilderness Bill is deemed by the Forest Service as not suitable for timber production.

CALL, FAX, OR EMAIL VERMONT'S DELEGATION,
AND TELL THEM THAT YOU WANT MORE WILDERNESS IN VERMONT

OR, SEND THE FORM LETTER BELOW.
PLEASE PERSONALIZE YOUR LETTER BY ADDING COMMENTS IN THE SPACE BELOW.