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Designing a Model Landscape for Multiple Values: Envisioning a Sustainable Future for Middlebury College Lands

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Designing a Model Landscape for Multiple Values: Envisioning a Sustainable Future for Middlebury College Lands Designing a Model Landscape for Multiple Values: Envisioning a Sustainable Future for Middlebury College Lands Prepared for Middlebury College Office of Sustainability Integration and Office of Environmental Affairs Environmental Studies Senior Seminar (401) Spring 2017 Gabriel Antonucci, Matthew Barr, Sarah Gledhill, Jordan Killen, Mandy Kimm, Sierra Moen, Donald Jones, Scott Waller, Jeremy Vandenberg, and Sebastian Zavoico 1 Acknowledgements This document would not have been possible without the guidance, assistance, and feedback of Marc Lapin, Associate in Science Instruction in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, and Diane Munroe, Coordinator for Community Based Environmental Studies at Middlebury College. We would also like to thank our community partners, Nan Jenks-Jay, Dean of Environmental Affairs and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies, and Jack Byrne, Director of Sustainability Integration, for their continued encouragement and participation throughout the semester. We would also like to thank all of the local farmers, business owners, and community members who gave us their time for interviews and provided their unique and useful insight. Andrea Lloyd (Dean of Faculty/VP for Academic Affairs) Tim Parsons (Landscape Horticulturalist, Facilities Services) David Donahue (Spec. Assistant to the President and Dir. of Community Relations) Dean Ouellette (Energy & Technology Manager) Matt Curran (Director of Business Services) Joni Osterhaudt (Middlebury Area Land Trust) Chris Olson (Addison County Forester) RJ Adler (SunCommon) Michael Kiernan (Bee the Change) Ethan Swift (Vt Department of Environmental Conservation) George Foster (Foster Brothers Farm) Warren Nop (Nop Brothers Farm) Jeff Carter (UVM Extension) Chuck Ross (UVM Extension) George Tucker (Natural Resource Conservation Service) Annalise Carrington (Otter Creek Natural Resource Conservation District) Brian and Cindy Kayhart (Chalker Farm) Chris Dutton (Dairy One) Mark LaBarr and Margaret Fowle (Audubon Vermont) Jens Hilke (Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department) Carolyn and Will Jackson (Jackson Property) 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary ..............................................................................................................................................................3 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1: Forest Management ................................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 2: Biodiversity Conservation ..................................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 3: Water Quality ................................................................................................................................................ 50 Chapter 4: Agriculture ..................................................................................................................................................... 63 Chapter 5: Renewable Energy ...................................................................................................................................... 71 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................................................................ 86 Appendix A: Map Compilation ..................................................................................................................................... 97 3 Executive Summary How to Use This Document The executive summary is a quick glance at our broad conclusions. It includes questions to consider for land decisions, our most important recommendations, a matrix of how these recommendations may conflict or coincide, and a list of the educational opportunities that are presented by these recommendations. After a brief introduction to the context and question of this project, the rest of the document is divided into 5 chapters: forest management, biodiversity, water quality, agriculture, and renewable energy. Each chapter includes detail about regional initiatives, historical context, specific recommendations, and a list of pertinent definitions. We found that the lenses overlapped extensively, and areas of overlap are highlighted in the labeled yellow boxes throughout the document. Project Statement As an institutional leader of the environmental movement, Middlebury College must steward its lands for the development of a sustainable, multi-use landscape. Managing the college’s 3,212 acres of land around the Town of Middlebury for multiple stakeholders and uses requires explicit goals and guidelines in order to be effective, equitable, and sustainable. As an ES 401 Senior Seminar, we have written a set of guidelines for use by the college, stating recommended goals and management policies for managing these lands. These policies are informed by in-depth research of local, state, and national management plans and governing policy, as well as interviews with college administrators and staff, farmers, and local businesses owners. Questions to Consider for Land Decisions 1. What is the land currently used for? General 2. Does this land hold any potential educational opportunities? 3. Is this land important to the college’s viewshed? 4. Is there potential for multiple uses of this land? 1. Is this forest part of a larger forest block that the college should help maintain? 2. Does this forest store more than 8000 tons of carbon? If so, should this forest be managed or Forest conserved for carbon sequestration? Management 3. Could this land be used more effectively for forest connectivity? Is it already an important forest corridor? 4. Is this a state significant natural community that should not be disturbed? 4 1. Are there rare or threatened species present? If so, will they be affected by proposed management changes? Biodiversity 2. Does the parcel contain wetlands? If so, what type? What is their condition? Conservation 3. If the parcel contains agricultural grassland, how suitable is it for grassland bird habitat? 4. Is the parcel heavily utilized for recreation by students or community members? Does it have the potential for increased use if access is improved? 5. Does the parcel contain any suitable shrubland bird habitat as identified in Figure 2.4? If so, have key shrubland bird species been detected? 1. Does the parcel contain or abut surface waters? If so, what type? What is their condition? 2. Has the parcel been identified as having high potential for sequestering phosphorus and reducing flows to surface waters? Water Quality 3. Does the parcel contain riparian buffers? If so, what is their condition? 4. Does the parcel contain areas highlighted in orange on Figure 3.3 as recommended for focused riparian management? 5. How are roads, ditches, and culverts impacting water quality? 1. Does this parcel contain highly erodible soils? Agriculture 2. Is this parcel compliant with Vermont Required Agricultural Practices? If not, what is lacking: buffers, nutrient management plan? 3. Does this farmer lessee have a successor? 1. Is there any part of the parcel that is marginal for agriculture and low priority for biodiversity conservation and forestry? Renewable 2. Is this a potential site for renewable energy generation (biomethane digester, solar, wind, etc.)? Energy 3. Does the parcel contain any developed spaces (i.e. roofs, parking lots viable for solar panels)? 5 Recommended Management Actions: General: ● Initiate a cultural shift to more conscious, integrative land stewardship ● Connect Middlebury College Campus with the local community and the surrounding landscape ● Set goals for the future ● Commit to Middlebury College’s responsibility as an environmental leader Forest Management ● Conserve forest for connectivity and carbon sequestration ● Actively manage forests to increase carbon sequestration ● Re-establish forest connectivity across college lands Biodiversity Conservation ● Permanently protect the section of the Otter Creek Swamp on college-owned lands ● Maintain early-successional habitats for key shrubland birds ● Conserve threatened and endangered species on a case-by-case basis ● Protect upland habitats surrounding the vernal pool ● Maintain natural water levels and fluctuation regimes in wetlands Water Quality ● Support implementation of Vermont Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) ● Establish student-managed nutrient measuring stations in parcels that abut Otter Creek and its tributaries ● Collaborate with towns of Middlebury and Cornwall to inventory and restore ditches and culverts ● Create and manage green infrastructure to mitigate floods and provide benefits to college Agriculture ● Extend length of leases to five years ● Support and enforce implementation of RAPs ● Incentivize specific sustainable agricultural practices above and beyond RAPs ● Transition relationship with college Dining and collaborate with UVM Extension to create demonstration plots Energy ● Bring Middlebury College to 90% renewable energy ● Establish a sustained energy conservation and efficiency campaign ● Improve transportation efficiency through increased electric vehicles and better fuel efficiency ● Support a biomethane digester project ● Install rooftop and parking lot solar PV ● Install wind turbines ● Build a microgrid 6 Matrix of Conflicts.
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