Support VT’s Act 181
I am dismayed at the negativity surrounding Act 181. I am writing in support of the Act 181 Road Rule and Tier 3.
Roughly 5,000 acres of VT forest are lost per year. But what is equally insidious is the construction of roads and driveways, fragmenting forests that are critical wildlife refugia.
Surrounding every forest road is a “corridor of influence” in which wildlife are stressed by human presence and may become alarmed enough to flee. Mammals react to human presence at 400 feet, birds at 150 feet, reptiles and amphibians at 60 feet.
The proposed Road Rule allows up to 2,000 feet of road plus driveway before Act 250 is invoked. A 2,000-foot-long access into a forest negatively impacts an area of 1,600,000 square feet, or 36.7 acres of mammal habitat, and this would not be regulated under the current Road Rule. This roll back of the original 800-foot rule is highly significant.
The Road Rule encourages the clustering of development and discourages habitat fragmentation. It does not mean people can’t build roads for subdivisions in Tier 2.
I support Tier 3, though it covers a shockingly limited area, mostly only important wildlife road crossings, headwater streams and the rarest natural communities. These locations are critical to biodiversity and wildlife movement in response to accelerating climate change.
However, Tier 3 allows construction, logging, access roads and wastewater, it just has to undergo a review process that is being crafted. How protective is that? Not included are Vermont’s interior forests and scarce undeveloped shoreline habitat. More features protecting biodiversity and rarity should be included.
I am dismayed at Gov. Scott’s opposition and I urge legislators to stand by Act 181 in its entirety and not retreat from this important milestone. Remember, we’re experiencing a mass decline of the natural world and unprecedented extinction of wildlife species. A leading factor is loss of habitat.