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Trail advocates urge study of compensating private landowners as Legislature considers House 147
Summary
Trail stewards, builders and outdoor-business representatives told a House committee that Vermont's reliance on private land for public trails creates maintenance and access risks and supports a proposed study, House 147, to analyze options for recognizing and compensating landowners.
Nick Bennett, chair of the Vermont Trails and Greenways Council and executive director of the Vermont Mountain Bike Association, told a Vermont House committee that private landowners host almost three-quarters of the state's public access trails and urged lawmakers to back a bill creating a study of whether and how to recognize that contribution.
"Private landowners host almost 3 quarters of public access trails," Bennett said, describing the scale of private ownership and the volunteer stewardship network that sustains trails across the state.
The bill Bennett described, House 147, "is an act relating to establishing the Recreational Trails Compensation Study Committee," and would direct a multi-stakeholder committee to analyze the economic value private landowners provide, assess landowner costs and liabilities, study how other states recognize access, and model program options and price tags for possible recognition, Bennett said.
Why it matters: Vermont counts roughly 8,000 miles of public access trails, and outdoor recreation contributed about…
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