Vermont

The Conservation Fund works to shelter Vermont’s most ecologically sensitive and diverse natural areas – protecting more than 190,000 acres since 1985. The Fund’s efforts to preserve the state’s working forests reflect its dedication to maintaining environmental and economic balance.

Green Mountain National Forest

The Green Mountain National Forest offers black bears and other wildlife a safe route through the mountains. In 2009, with support from Vermont’s congressional delegation, we and the U.S. Forest Service completed a 30-year effort to preserve 450 acres of critical wildlife
habitat here—protecting a regional source of water and providing new opportunities to hike, cross-country ski and enjoy the outdoors. In total, we have helped add 1,600-plus acres to the 375,000 acres that make up Green Mountain National Forest, one of only two national forests in the Northeast.

Brighton State Park

The forested mountains, fast-running rivers, and clear lakes of Brighton State Park offer a striking mix of conservation and recreation benefits. Working with The Nature Conservancy, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, and Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, weacquired more than 450 acres to expand the park’s camping area and safeguard habitat for moose, deer, and bear.

Green Mountain Bear Corridor

The final piece in the 20,000-acre, 28-parcel Green Mountain Corridor was secured in 2006, with a 400-acre easement, thus completing a 12-year initiative led by the Fund with assistance from Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Freeman Foundation, Mt. Holly Conservation Trust, National Park Appalachian Trail Project, Ninevah Foundation, the State of Vermont, USDA Forest Service, Vermont Land Trust and many others.

Bears need an extensive, uninterrupted range for access to varied food sources, mates, and territories that young bears can claim as their own when they leave their mothers. The Green Mountain Bear Corridor project was citizen-initiated in 1993. With the challenges and complexities of protecting a checkerboard mix of state and private lands, we helped the initiative succeed by leading the partnership to secure safer passage for black bears through the Green Mountain range. Click here to learn more.

Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge

Back in 1998 we worked with private, public and nonprofit partners to protect 300,000 acres of critical forestland in New York, New Hampshire and Vermont through a series of acquisitions, completing the largest multi-state conservation project in U.S. history.

As part of this project, with our partners we purchased approximately 133,000 acres from Champion International Corporation. Some 26,000 acres of the acquisition were used to create the Nulhegan Unit of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Located in Essex County, in the heart of the famed Northeast Kingdom, these lands contain the largest deer wintering areas in the state, miles of river frontage in the Nulhegan Basin and Paul Stream watersheds and many ecologically sensitive areas containing a variety of rare and threatened species of wildlife and plants.

Prior to this acquisition, the Nulhegan Basin was one of the most significant unprotected wetlands in northern New England. The refuge supports healthy populations of moose and provides an economic base to local communities that rely on tourists seeking recreation opportunities. The remainder of the larger 300,000 acres of forestlands were conserved for sustainable forestry or protected as wildlife habitat in refuges and state wildlife management areas.