Vermont H. 276: An act relating to municipal authority to regulate the possession, use, and manufacture of knives

Bill Text

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H.276 1
Introduced by Representative Sheldon of Middlebury 2
Referred to Committee on 3
Date: 4
Subject: Conservation and development; State land; wildlands 5
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to designate 6
certain lands as State wildlands and create a process for the designation of 7
State wildlands in the future. 8
An act relating to the designation of State wildlands 9
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 10
Sec. 1. SHORT TITLE 11
This act may be cited as the “Vermont Climate Resilience and State 12
Wildlands Act.” 13
Sec. 2. FINDINGS 14
The General Assembly finds: 15
(1) The planet is facing the consequences of climate change and the 16
catastrophic loss of biodiversity, both globally and locally. 17
(2) Intact and connected ecosystems reduce flood risks, mitigate 18
drought, sequester and store carbon, and support Vermont’s biodiversity and 19
clean water. 20

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(3) Vermont’s most effective and efficient contribution to conserving 1
biological diversity and maintaining a landscape resilient to climate change is 2
to conserve an intact and connected landscape. 3
(4) The Department of Fish and Wildlife, working within the Agency of 4
Natural Resources and with Vermont conservation organizations, has 5
developed Vermont Conservation Design, a framework to sustain the State’s 6
ecologically functional landscape into the future. 7
(5) Vermont Conservation Design finds that: 8
(A) historically, the vast majority of Vermont’s landscape was old 9
forest, and it is the original habitat condition for many species; 10
(B) the State’s native flora and fauna that have been here prior to 11
European settlement are adapted to this landscape of old, structurally complex 12
forest punctuated by natural disturbance gaps and occasional natural openings 13
such as wetlands or rock outcrops; 14
(C) the complex physical structure of old forests creates diverse 15
habitats, many of which are absent or much less abundant in younger forests; 16
(D) as a result of the persistent structural and vegetative complexity 17
above ground and the diverse biome belowground and associated complex 18
biotic and abiotic relationships that develop over time, old forests also protect 19
water quality, sequester and store carbon, provide opportunities for adaptation 20
of species and community relationships to climate and other environmental 21

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changes, and set an ecological benchmark against which to measure active 1
management of Vermont’s forests; 2
(E) although there are small patches of old forest scattered around the 3
state, old forest is absent in Vermont as a functional component of the 4
landscape; 5
(F) allowing about nine percent of Vermont’s forest to become old 6
forest will bring this missing component back to Vermont’s landscape and 7
offer confidence that species that benefit from or depend on this condition can 8
persist; and 9
(G) in most forests, passive restoration will result in old forest 10
conditions. 11
(6) Only approximately four percent of Vermont and three percent of 12
New England are managed as ecological reserves as defined in 10 V.S.A. 13
chapter 89, to assist with restoration of old forests. 14
(7) State lands provide only two percent of Vermont’s average annual 15
timber harvest volume. 16
(8) Ninety percent of State lands are located in forested headwater 17
settings, which are particularly susceptible to generating runoff during storm 18
events, given their topography and geologic setting. 19

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(9) 2023 Acts and Resolves No. 59 called for prioritizing ecological 1
reserve areas to protect highest priority natural communities and maintain or 2
restore old forests. 3
(10) To meet the goals of 2023 Acts and Resolves No. 59, the State of 4
Vermont requires a statutory landscape designation to facilitate the 5
establishment of ecological reserves on State lands. 6
Sec. 3. 10 V.S.A. chapter 90 is created: 7
CHAPTER 90. STATE WILDLANDS 8
§ 2810. PURPOSE 9
The purpose of this chapter is to ensure, for the benefit of current and future 10
generations of Vermonters, and for the entire community of life in the Green 11
Mountain State, an enduring resource of publicly owned wildlands. 12
§ 2811. DEFINITIONS 13
As used in this chapter: 14
(1) “Conversion” has the same meaning as in section 2801 of this title. 15
(2) “Core area” means an administrative land management designation 16
used by the Agency of Natural Resources in Long Range Management Plans 17
for State lands. 18
(3) “Highest priority natural communities and habitat features” means 19
conservation targets, critical for an ecologically functional landscape, that are 20
identified in the Agency of Natural Resource’s Vermont Conservation Design. 21

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