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Lawmaker introduces bill to prompt review of state forest harvests, citing staffing and market concerns
Summary
Representative Don O’Brien introduced H.477 to start formal committee discussion on accelerating harvest and management of Vermont state forest lands, citing delayed harvests, staffing limits and potential industry benefits from longer-term contracts.
Representative Don O’Brien introduced H.477 to the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry Committee as a conversation-starting bill aimed at speeding up management and timber harvests on state forest lands.
Committee members said the proposal grew from a field trip to Little River State Park and examples of delayed work on parcels that had been scheduled for harvest years earlier. O’Brien described the bill as “just to get that conversation going here. Like, what could we do?” and said the intent is to explore options such as using private foresters when agency capacity is limited.
The bill’s backers and committee commenters framed the measure…
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