Publications, Reports & Maps

Annual Reports

Vermont Family Forests 2023 Annual Report

“When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging, the saying goes. It’s a no-brainer. Yet here we are. Climate change is breathing down our necks and blowing down our trees. It’s time to put down the shovel. It’s time to move from the hole to the whole.” With these words, Vermont Family Forests Executive Director, David Brynn, begins our 2023 Annual Report (PDF). It’s chock-full of stories and images from our year, and we’re excited to share it with you. Click to cover below to see the report.

Recent Newsletters

• Alive in the Forest, September 2024
• Alive in the Forest, Summer 2024
• Release of 2023 Annual Report, February 2024
• Alive in the Forest, January 2024

Reports

Enhancing Flood Resiliency of Vermont State Lands June 2015

• Kristen L. Underwood, hydrogeologist (South Mountain Research & Consulting Services)
• David Brynn, consulting forester (Vermont Family Forests)

Record flooding on Lake Champlain in the spring of 2011 and widespread damages sustained to Vermont’s built infrastructure during Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011 motivated the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) Lands Stewardship Team to request an evaluation of policies, plans and practices on state-owned lands with a goal to enhance flood resiliency.

• REPORT
• APPENDICES

A Commons Conservation Collaborative Network Report

• Max Bochman
• Anna Durning
• Ian Knapp

Middlebury College ENVS 0401 Community Engaged Practicum, December 15, 2019. During the Fall 2019 semester, Middlebury College students undertook a project for Vermont Family Forests, to investigate the opportunities and constraints for some kind of regional conservation collaborative to share and avoid redundancies in conservation and monitoring projects in Vermont’s Center-West Ecoregion.

• REPORT

Town Forest Health Check

Town Forest Health Check to support the Vermont Town Forest Project—a statewide initiative to strengthen connections between Vermonters and their community-owned forests. If you’re a community member interested in taking an active role in maintaining the health of your community’s town forest, take a look at the Town Forest Health Check. With it, you’ll be able to determine if the optimal conservation practices that maintain forest health are in place in your town forest.

• Town Forest Health Check guidebook
• Benchmark Assessment Tally Sheets

Commons and Commoning

Center-West Ecoregion Maps of Ecological Hotspots

• CWE Air Commons (specifically relating to carbon sequestration and storage by forests–the map focuses on intact forest blocks)
• CWE Water Commons
• CWE Wildlife Commons
• CWE Combined Commons: Ecologically Functional Landscape

Caring For Our Home Grounds

Commons Conservation Congress, November 2, 2019, Presentations and Materials

• Proceedings, Emerging Ideas, and Next Steps: 2019 Commons Conservation Congress
• Commons and Commoning Ideas and Workbook
• Opening Remarks, David Brynn
• An Abenaki perspective on home and the commons, Melody Brook
• Vermont Conservation Design and the Center-West Ecoregion, Eric Sorenson
• Bibliography of forest-related books, by Anne Dannenberg, Huntington Librarian