LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION STUDY Report Submitted Pursuance to Act No. 76 of 2019, Sec. 9 Submitted to the Vermont General Assembly Submitted by the Agency of Natural Resources January 15, 2020 Table of Contents Authorizing Statute......................................................................................................................................3 Introduction and Vision Statement..............................................................................................................4 Executive Summary......................................................................................................................................5 Land Conservation in Vermont.....................................................................................................................7 Public Land Acquisition and Private Land Conservation...............................................................................8 Evolution of Land Conservation Organizations and Priorities Over Time.....................................................9 Conservation Investment and Return Over Time........................................................................................11 Leverage and Matching Funds....................................................................................................................12 Importance of Conservation to Rural Community Development................................................................14 Clean Water Funding and Land Conservation.............................................................................................16 Benefits of Maintaining High Functioning Ecosystems for Water Quality..................................................16 Spectrum of Clean Water Conservation Opportunites................................................................................17 Existing State Clean Water Funding Sources..............................................................................................19 Transition to Future Clean Water Service Delivery Model..........................................................................21 Assessment of Clean Water Cost Share for Conservation Projects and Implementation............................22 Conclusion and Recomendations................................................................................................................23 Appendix A – List of Workgroup Participants.............................................................................................25 Appendix B – Case Studies..........................................................................................................................26 2 No. 76. An act relating to the provision of water quality services (2019) Sec. 9. LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION STUDY (a) The State’s success in achieving and maintaining compliance with the Vermont Water Quality Standards for all State waters depends on avoiding the future degradation or impairment of surface waters. An important component of avoiding the future degradation or impairment of surface waters is the permanent protection of lands for multiple conservation purposes, including the protection of surface waters and associated natural resources, according to priorities for multiple conservation values, including water quality benefits, natural areas, flood and climate resilience, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation. (b) The State’s success in achieving and maintaining compliance with the Vermont Water Quality Standards depends in part on strategic land conservation. To assist the State in enhancing the benefit of strategic land conservation, the Secretary of Natural Resources shall convene a Land and Water Conservation Study Stakeholder Group to develop a recommended framework for statewide land conservation. On or before January 15, 2020, the Secretary shall submit the Stakeholder Group’s recommended framework for statewide land conservation to the General Assembly. The recommended framework shall include: (1) recommendations for maximizing both water quality benefits and other state priorities from land conservation projects, including agricultural uses, natural area and headwaters protection, flood and climate resilience, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, and rural community development; and (2) recommended opportunities to leverage federal and other nonstate funds for conservation projects. (c)(1) The Land and Water Conservation Study Stakeholder Group shall include the following individuals or their designees: (A) the Secretary of Natural Resources; (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets; (C) the Executive Director of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board; (D) the President of the Vermont Land Trust; (E) the Vermont and New Hampshire Director of the Trust for Public Land; and (F) the Director of the Nature Conservancy for the State of Vermont. (2) The Secretary of Natural Resources shall invite the participation in the Stakeholder Group by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, representatives of farmer’s watershed alliances, representatives of landowner organizations, and other interested parties. 3 INTRODUCTION Section 9 of 2019’s Act 76 directs the Secretary of Natural Resources to convene a Land and Water Conservation Study Stakeholder Group to recommend a framework for statewide land conservation that maximizes both water quality benefits and other state priorities from land conservation, and to recommend opportunities to leverage federal and other non-state funds for conservation projects. A complete list of stakeholder groups that participated in the development of this report is included in Appendix A. As this report documents, Vermont has a long history of highly successful land conservation projects and partnerships that have protected critical natural resources and recreation lands and provided significant support to our working lands economy. The conservation community – comprised of public, nonprofit, municipal and volunteer organizations – has effectively evolved its priorities over the decades as new natural resource and economic pressures and opportunities emerged across the landscape and evolving science and understanding has further informed decision-making. Consistent with that adaptive history, this report highlights both the opportunity and the need for the conservation community to play a key role in protecting the integrity of the state’s waters, broadly, and more specifically to address water quality concerns, most notably phosphorus pollution. For the purposes of this report and the intended scope of the study, references to land conservation are intended to focus on strategic acquisition of land or interests in land, such as easements, for conservation purposes. Conservation, more broadly, represents a suite of tools and strategies, including land acquisition, available to operationalize a land ethic and maintain wise use of healthy lands. VISION STATEMENT The landscape gives many locales a sense of place. It could rightly be argued that Vermont’s landscape plays an outsized role in our state’s identity – environmental and economic. Working lands – both agricultural and forestry – dominate Vermont’s landscape, and are complemented by natural lands and waterbodies. Further, these open spaces support myriad recreation opportunities which has raised Vermont’s profile as a national leader in outdoor recreation. Conservation is an essential tool in ensuring the landscape continues to meet these needs. Yet ensuring a sense of place is not the only driver for land conservation. There are a range of conservation values – including protecting critical ecosystems and habitats, supporting community needs and cultural values, ensuring species diversity, improving resilience and helping mitigate the impacts of climate change – that individual projects may be designed to maximize based on a combination of local interests and larger public policy priorities. While it has always been a byproduct of conservation, increasingly, clean water is a primary driver for conservation work in Vermont. There are enormous opportunities to integrate clean water work in the significant land conservation investments made each year in Vermont. Additionally, conservation investments often open the door to voluntary water quality improvements necessary to meet the state’s pollution reduction goals, leading to improved practices and follow-on investments in protecting and restoring water quality. 4 For these benefits to be clear and maximized, it will be increasingly important to quantify the relative benefits that different conservation opportunities may provide in the context of water quality. While water quality may never be the singular driver, or beneficiary, of conservation work in Vermont – there is both a need for and a desire to bring clean water to the fore in identifying, pursuing and ultimately funding conservation opportunities. Further, there is currently dedicated funding to support conservation projects that prioritize water quality – allowing conservation projects that emphasize water quality protections to enjoy a first among equals status. This report seeks to articulate the nexus between clean water work and conservation and highlights the need for continued investments in land conservation as part of the on-going effort to protect and restore Vermont’s rivers, lakes, wetlands, ponds and streams. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report includes four main sections: • A history and background of land conservation