Windsor
The property is set to be transferred to Fish and Wildlife after delays in a process that began last year.
“These (management) plans typically take a couple of years to develop and often involve a fair amount of input from the community, we hope, and in this case, we expect it will,” Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter said on Monday. “We are committed to managing this property the way community wants us to.”
During a 45-minute presentation made to about two dozen attendees at the town’s welcome center, Porter showed a map depicting the land around the prison buildings and grounds that he expects will be under the auspices of Fish and Wildlife very soon. The map also showed 120 acres encompassing the prison that will remain under the jurisdiction of the Department of Buildings and General Services.
Porter said the deed for the property has been transferred but the executive order that was signed by former Gov. Peter Shumlin last year had to be rewritten when acreage that had been considered for a since abandoned solar array project was added.
“It is being reviewed by the Governor’s Office, and I don’t anticipate any problem,” Porter said.
State Rep. John Bartholomew, D-Hartland, who organized the meeting, urged Porter to get the governor’s signature as soon as he could.
The move to transfer the property — mostly fields and forests — grew out of objections to the solar array application proposed by Green Mountain Power that was eventually withdrawn.
Fish and Wildlife has done some maintenance on the land off County Farm Road already, including mowing 123 acres, completing invasive plant control on 18 acres, building water bars on about a mile of road where there was erosion and clearing trees and brush around apple and oak trees that produce food for wildlife.
Going forward, Porter said, the state wants to find a contractor for haying and brushing-hogging, paying particular attention to the habitat of birds that nest in the fields.
“We are going to continue the timber stand improvement, which is management of woodlot for timber production and wildlife habitat, and continue our invasive plant work and finish surveying and figure out the boundaries,” Porter said.
A forest inventory will also be completed to assess long-term timber operations while the long term managment plan is developed.
People in attendance commented on topics such as the need to prune the apple trees and restrict certain uses during trapping season in the fall.
There were also questions about what uses would be allowed on the property.
Porter, who was joined by district wildlife biologist Forrest Hammond and assistant commissioner Kim Royar, said it will take time to consider all the ideas and interests, but decisions would be based on Fish and Wildlife’s main mission.
“Our primary mission is wildlife habitat and wildlife recreation,” he said. “And to the extent other interests conflict with that, we would err on the side of hunting, trapping and fishing. If they do not interfere, we would endeavor to satisfy those interests.
“This is a different project for us. We are grateful to have the chance to have it and manage it, but the number of different interests competing among different groups means more flexibility on our part and patience on the community’s part as we figure out how to work that out over the next few years.”
As the meeting concluded, Porter put up a slide showing names for the land they had come up with and the audience added a few, including Windsor Fields and Forest, which was favored by 14 in an unofficial vote. Eight liked Windsor Grasslands, and five preferred Windsor Management Area.
Audience members agreed Windsor should be in the name but prison should not.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
