ANR: Vermont losing forest cover; reaching 30x30 will require about 85,000 additional conserved acres

Secretary Julie Moore and Agency of Natural Resources staff told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee that Vermont’s lands play a dual role as working forests and climate‑relevant carbon sinks, but the state is losing forest cover and will need substantial additional conservation to meet statutory goals.

Moore said the state’s inventory shows about 27% of Vermont’s landscape is permanently conserved and that reaching the 30‑by‑30 target would require roughly an additional 85,000 acres of permanent conservation — “which works out to something like 30,000 acres a year for each of the next five years,” she said. Moore described an average acquisition cost that “varies, but it's somewhere between a thousand and $4,000 an acre.”

The nut graf: Agency testimony emphasized that sequestration and land conservation are climate strategies distinct from—yet complementary to—emissions reductions. Officials also flagged limits in current measurement systems for sequestration and the cost and scale required to meet conservation targets.

Key details and modeling

Moore explained that Vermont’s pathways modeling and the carbon budget work underlying the state’s climate planning were led in part by the University of Vermont. She said the forestry component is updated annually through the UVM Monitoring Cooperative under the work of Dr. Ali Kasiba (a forester who previously worked at ANR). Moore acknowledged that while forestry sequestration methods are robust and improving, comprehensive, direct measurements for all land‑use sequestration (including agriculture and wetlands) are not currently in place; the state updates the forestry sector annually but has not yet implemented a recurring, complete accounting across all land‑use categories.

Forest loss and conservation accounting

Moore said Vermont is losing about 5,000 to 5,500 acres of forest cover per year. Act 59 of 2023 asked the agency and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) to inventory conserved lands and propose a conservation plan for 30x30 and 50x50 goals; the agency’s inventory indicates roughly 1,580,000 acres are permanently conserved and about 2,400,000 acres are enrolled in the state’s use‑value appraisal (current use) program. Moore noted there is overlap between those two figures and that lands enrolled only in current use are not counted as permanently conserved.

Funding and programs

Moore described the main funding sources for land conservation: the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund and Forest Legacy Fund, and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board’s annual budget (VHCB typically runs a $6–$8 million annual conservation appropriation, Moore said). She said agricultural conservation practices that improve soil quality and manure management receive roughly $30 million annually from a mix of clean water funds, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service programs and Lake Champlain Basin grants.

Questions and follow‑ups

Committee members asked whether withdrawing from the current use program leaves a lien on property (and therefore whether current use lands should count toward permanent conservation). Moore said she would follow up with ANR staff and provide a precise answer. She also said the agency’s conservation cost estimates are drawn from cumulative experience across state and partner transactions (easements and fee acquisitions).

Ending

The agency framed forests and farms as "incredible climate assets" that deserve more attention inside climate planning. Officials said better, recurring measurement across land‑use categories and funding to acquire additional conserved acres will be required to meet 30x30 and broader sequestration goals.