“I believe it is important to make the hard decisions to protect areas of our gorgeous state as wilderness, in balance with maintaining land for agriculture and the forest industry. I strongly believe that we will be thanked by our children and theirs, for our wisdom and our ability to look out for them and generations to come.” - Nancy Gucker Birsall, Tinmouth, Vermont.
A Majestic View
From atop Glastenbury Mountain, visitors have a 360-degree view of the majestic Green Mountains of Vermont. This view, and the wild National Forest land that provides it, are threatened-by road-building, logging, cellular telephone towers and motorized recreation.
Glastenbury, and Vermont's other wildest places deserve permanent protection of their ecological and recreational values. That protection is the goal of the Vermont Wilderness Association (VWA). VWA is a coalition of 16 organizations, including The Wilderness Society, that, taken together, represent tens of thousands of Vermonters and actively seeks the designation of additional Wilderness on the Green Mountain National Forest.
A Tradition
Wilderness is part of Vermont's tradition and a valued part, according to polls of residents of the Green Mountain State. When the Forest Service asked in 1995, 80 percent of Vermonters said they want remaining undisturbed forests protected. Many have attended agency-sponsored forums and over 10.000 letters, postcards and comments have been signed in support of Wilderness protection. Letters to the editor also reflect broad support for additional designations.
And An Opportunity
Today, only about one percent of Vermont's land base is protected as Wilderness, some 60,000 acres. The Vermont Wilderness Association (VWA), of which The Wilderness Society is a part, proposes to double that amount with protection of another 60,000 acres, including some of the state's most spectacular wild areas such as Glastenbury Mountain and Lamb Brook.
The VWA proposal would also add acreage to several existing Wilderness areas, and would also create a new National Recreation Area in the Moosalamoo area. The National Recreation Area would be off limits to commercial logging but remain open to snowmobiling and other motorized recreation on existing roads and trails. In developing its proposal, the VWA has looked to science that increasingly shows the need for Wilderness areas of at least 25,000 to 40,000 acres in size to adequately protect and restore a region's plant and animal diversity. Wilderness areas east of the Mississippi average around 27,000 acres in size; New Hampshire has three that top 25,000 acres. Sadly, today Vermont has only one that even comes close: the Breadloaf Wilderness at 21,000 acres.
