Commissioner lays out scope, costs and challenges for Vermont forests and state parks

Danielle Fitzko, commissioner of Forests, Parks and Recreation, told a legislative committee on Feb. 12 that the department oversees roughly 190,000 acres of state-managed land within the Agency of Natural Resources portfolio and operates the Vermont State Park system while facing rising costs, aging infrastructure and growing public demand.

Fitzko said the department’s work spans forestry, state parks, land administration and a business office that manages contracting and purchases. "We are forest strong," she said, adding that 76% of the state is forested. Fitzko said the department processed thousands of invoices and manages dozens of contracts to operate parks and maintain infrastructure.

The department and its staff outlined how they divide responsibilities: a Forestry Division that runs private‑lands outreach and the current‑use appraisal work; a state‑lands program that maintains trails, parking and fire towers outside developed parks; watershed‑forestry staff that protect water quality during logging operations; an urban and community forestry program that provides grants and tree planting in municipalities; a forest protection team that monitors forest health and pests; a small but expanding wildland fire team; and a forest economy program that works across the timber supply chain.

"We are forest strong and we'd like to celebrate that," Fitzko said. She described specific recent activity: the wildland fire program responded to nine fires this past fall, including a 52‑acre fire near Brandon that drew mutual aid from New Hampshire and federal resources. She said the department recorded 99 wildland fires last year…