Act 59 (30 by 30)- What is it and what does it mean for us?
Act 59 (30x30)
ACT059 As Enacted.pdfWhat is it and what does it mean for us?
Act 59, the Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act , passed in 2023 with the goal to maintain an ecologically functional landscape in Vermont. It seeks to protect biodiversity, strengthen climate resilience, and guide long-term conservation and development in Vermont. The Act sets the goal of conserving 30% of Vermont's landscape by 2030 and 50% by 2050, and directs the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) and Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to prepare a statewide conservation plan. This conservation plan is to describe how conservation goals will be achieved, where protection efforts should be prioritized, and the funding and policy tools needed for implementation. We are now in Phase II, developing the draft Vermont Conservation Plan, following the completion of the Draft Conservation Inventory Report.
VHCB and ANR have put out a draft conservation plan framework and are seeking feedback to improve this plan to best fit the needs of Vermonters. Listening sessions are being hosted across the state, see our calendar of events to find one that works for you.
The draft framework has three main objectives with the following suggested pathways :
1) Support Conservation in Communities
- Promote natural areas and sustainable working lands- identify strategies and investments to make conserved working lands more resilient, ecologically functioning and healthy. More technical and financial supports to make ecologically beneficial land management practices viable for landowners.
- Increase equitable access- identify investments and programmatic opportunities that will expand and improve equitable access to conserved lands, land-based enterprises, and recreational opportunities.
- Support outdoor recreation- strategic investments in land protection and management
- Strengthen climate resilience- identify actions and investments in nature-based solutions for more resilient conserved lands with benefits in community resilience, habitat connectivity, improved water quality and critical resource protection
- Expand place-based education and outreach
2) Center Vermont Conservation Design
- Expand ecological representation- better represent all nine biophysical regions; ensure that a diversity of ecosystems are conserved
- Protect connectivity corridors- identify ways to protect landscape-scale corridors for animals and plants to naturally shift and redistribute
- Improve forest structure- Improve representation of both old and young forests as well as the complexity and diversity of forest structure across the landscape
- Support aquatic systems- identify actions needed to steward, manage, and restore riparian areas and aquatic systems on both existing and new conserved lands
- Protect rare and significant ecological features
3) Strengthen Conservation Capacity
- Increase and optimize funding and financing- propose ways to support land protection, stewardship, and the capacity of the conservation community
- Support stewardship and restoration- identify actions, innovations, and new partners needed to better support sustainable stewardship and strategic restoration of lands and natural functions
- Promote conservation at different scales- identify systems and investments to support conservation organizations operating at local, regional, statewide, and transboundary scales
- Expand support system and conservation community- identify strategies and investments that will grow the support system of practitioners, natural resources management contracters, and community leaders, and expand conservation community to be representative of Vermont's diverse communities and viewpoints.
- Develop new programs and practices- identify new programs and tools that help increase the pace, quality, and impact of conservation investments.