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Vermont Land Trust, farmers urge full VHCB funding to protect working lands and reduce flood risk
Summary
At a Feb. 14 State House hearing, Vermont Land Trust and a Fairfield farmer urged the Legislature to approve the governor's $36.9 million recommendation for the Vermont Housing Conservation Board, saying the funding preserves farmland, protects water quality and supports community flood resilience.
Vermont Land Trust leaders and farmers told a legislative committee on Feb. 14 at the State House that the Legislature should approve the governor's recommendation of $36.9 million for the Vermont Housing Conservation Board to protect working lands and improve flood resilience.
The Vermont Land Trust’s executive vice president, Abby White, told the committee that full funding from the general fund — much of it derived from the property transfer tax — is “essential for ensuring affordability of both housing and land.” She asked lawmakers to “support full funding for VHCB, which would be about $36,900,000,” a figure she said matches the governor’s recommendation.
Why it matters: Witnesses said conservation easements and targeted restoration on farms and forests both protect natural resources and reduce downstream flood damage by giving rivers room to meander and by restoring wetlands and riparian buffers. White described conservation as a long-term investment: “Once land has been conserved, it is forever conserved and we hold those conservation easements.”
The Land Trust’s scope and…
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