1. 2015 Forest Fragmentation Report
Link to ANR Report at
Act 61 requires the Commissioner of Forests, Parks, and Recreation to consult with interested stakeholders and to develop proposed legislation for implementing the policy options contained within the Department’s 2015 Vermont Forest Fragmentation Report.

2. FOREST VALUES Vermont’s Forests Work for All
Move relatively quickly through these statements of values
Vermont’s Forests
Work for All
Photos © Susan C. Morse

3. Forest Products Economy
Forest Products Economy
$1.4 billion in economic output to Vermont’s economy
Employs 10,555 people
8% of the state’s manufacturing value

4. Economics of Scenery, Fall Foliage, Tourism and Recreation
© Susan C. Morse
Economics of Scenery, Fall Foliage, Tourism and Recreation
$1.9 billion in annual sales from forest–based recreation
46% attributed to fall foliage
704 million in wildlife-based recreation activities
37,000 tourism jobs, accounts for 11.5% of state employment
10,050 forest-based recreation jobs
4,400 hunting and fishing jobs

5. Flood Protection, Clean Water Supply, and Clean Air
Tempers frequency, intensity, and extent of flooding
Lowers peak flows and volumes of runoff
Filters waters impurities
Removes significant amount of fine particulate matter from the air
Reduces the need for costly infrastructure to clean water and air

6. Wildlife and Biodiversity
Food resources
Cover including shelters and structures
Shading and cooling efforts to temper moisture fluctuations
Space to access food, breeding areas, and safe travel pathways
Habitats to sustain diverse populations of plants and animals
Photos © Susan C. Morse

7. Climate Change Mitigation
Remove and store massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions
Sequester 8 MMTCO2e per year, almost as much as our emissions
$16 million in air pollution removal
Photos © Susan C. Morse

8. Human Health, Quality of Life, and Cultural Heritage
Improve human health including improved mood, blood pressure, and immune system
Contributes to quality of life
Working landscape and recreation heritage is valued by Vermonters

9. FOREST FRAGMENTATION TERMINOLOGY
Intact
Parcelized
Parcelized and Fragmented
Center for Land Use Education and Research. University of Connecticut

10.   DRIVERS OF FOREST PARCELIZATION AND FRAGMENTATION DRIVERS
Key to understand the underlying drivers of fragmentation. Best bet to inform policy development.
FRAGMENTTION
DRIVERS
Escalating property values and land prices • Increased property taxes • Conveyance of land from aging landowners • Exurbanization
“A Snapshot of the Northeastern Forests,” USDA Forest Service publication, October 2005

11. Mechanisms OF FRAGMENTATION
COVERSION OF FOREST TO
NON-FOREST
USES
Linear
Infrastructure
DEVELOPMENT
Photo, Above and Beyond. Campoli, J., Humstone, E., & MacLean, A. 2002

12. FRAGMENTATION
2003
1966

13. PATTERNS MATTER Less fragmented forest in rural community
Notes from Jen’s slides
the pattern of where there is forest or other habitat matters.
The pic at left is forest cover in Killington and Bridgewater while the pic at right is of Hartland.
Left is a bigger block of contiguous forest.
Hartland is a rural town with no zoning and an even amount of low density development along all these rural roads.
The net effect is a pattern of tiny forest blocks.
That pattern means that the don’t get Moose or Bear or other deep forest species in Hartland.
Less fragmented forest in rural community
More intensely fragmented in a rural community

14. EDGE
EFFECT
ISOLATION
EFFECT

15. POLICY OPTIONS EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
The people of Vermont have much to gain from building on recent progress by recommitting to land conservation, re-visioning land-use planning and policy efforts, and promoting a sustainable forest economy.
CONSERVATION
LANDOWNER INCENTIVES
Fortunately, not necessarily new. Has occurred elsewhere. Has been discussed here. Options exist.
Report spells them out in great detail. For brevity, outlining them here.
LAND USE PLANNING
SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY AND VERMONT FOREST ECONOMY

16. Monitoring Forest Fragmentation
National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) = 30m Pixel
Updated every 5 years with % change calculations from previous version
Misses the isolated (single house) development typical of VT
Misses small roads
Unsuitable for monitoring VT Forest Fragmentation
NOAA CCAP 2006

17. Monitoring Forest Fragmentation
Need a regularly updated dataset with finer scale resolution to track forest fragmentation
Habitat Blocks (2011 Sorenson & Osborne) is a good product but based on NOAA CCAP (30m pixel) with standardized road buffers to create “blocks”