Vermont Traditions Coalition

06/15/2026

06/15/2026

Our Bald Hill Hatchery stocked out 100,000 walleye fingerlings to Salem and Island Pond this week thanks to the partnership between the Department and Lake Champlain Walleye Association . As this program grows it will be exciting to see where else walleye restoration is able to be undertaken on appropriate inland waters.

06/02/2026

In light of the consistent attempts by ANR to reduce fish culture in Vermont over the last seven years, we are grateful that the members of the House and Senate Committees on Institutions clarified their intent for this annual appropriation, and we want to thank house Chair Alice Emmons (D-Springfield) for taking the initiative to lead in having it drafted. 

The Lake Champlain Walleye Association has annually invested far more in our walleye program than they receive in this appropriation, and it has been a primary driver in building out our world renowned fish culture process around this species.

06/02/2026

Public Invited to Comment on Proposed Rules for the State Lands Management Planning Process

If you are wondering why this is relevant to you consider the poor habitat condition of our state lands and the lack of early habitat that is so crucial to so many wildlife species. We desperately need timber harvest on our public lands, and this is your opportunity to voice that truth. 

The Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) is inviting public comment on a proposed rule that would guide how state lands are planned and managed for the future. This process helps ensure that Vermonters have a voice in how these lands are cared for over time. Comments are due by June 18, 2026.

ANR staff will host four public hearings across the state to gather feedback:

• June 3, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm: Lyndonville Public Safety Building, 316 Main Street, Lyndonville, VT 05851
• June 4, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm: Town of Waterbury Municipal Offices, Steele Community Room, 28 North Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05676
• June 9, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm: Okemo Mountain Resort, Jackson Gore Inn, Cornerstone Room, 111 Jackson Gore Road, Ludlow, VT 05149
• June 11, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm: Virtual Meeting (Microsoft Teams)

ANR owns and manages approximately 370,000 acres of public lands across Vermont through the Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation; the Fish and Wildlife Department; and the Department of Environmental Conservation. In recent years, activists have been pushing to stop all logging on public lands. This is the opposite of the direction we need to be taking, and the Agency has opened this process to standardize planning requirements. Anyone who cares about wildlife populations understands how badly we need young habitat, so its important to voice your concerns.

The planning process provides crucial opportunities for Vermonters to share their values and priorities with the district stewardship teams. The proposed rule would formalize existing public engagement process and make several changes to how the management planning process works, including:

• defining a category of routine maintenance activities (called Universal Management Actions),
• clarifying the minimum content for Long Range Management Plans,
• creating two new land classifications that prioritize resource protection and reduce logging activities by prioritizing old growth, and
• establishing a new Statewide Plan through which management goals and standards would be identified for ANR Lands. (This will undoubtedly be derived from Vermont Conservation Design and 30x30/50x50 goals.)

Learn more about the proposed rule, RSVP for the public meetings, and submit comments on the ANR website. https://fpr.vermont.gov/vt-anr-lands-management-planning-rule

My Best Regards,

Mike

Mike Covey
Executive Director
Vermont Traditions Coalition

The Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) is inviting public comment on a proposed rule that would guide how state lands are planned and managed for the future. This process helps ensure that Vermonters have a voice in how these lands are cared for over time. The comment period is open until June 18, 20...

05/20/2026

Today on the floor of the House of Representatives, a resolution was read acknowledging the value of our fish culture division at Fish and Wildlife. Representatives Will Greer and Gina Galfetti were champions of the amendment along with 28 of their colleagues from across the political spectrum.

Link to the reading below. Make sure you stay tuned through the first ten minutes to hear representative Greer’s remarks and acknowledgement of Dylan Sickles, Fish Culture Director at Vermont Fish And Wildlife, and Chad Lambert, President of the Lake Champlain Walleye Association .

https://www.youtube.com/live/5TlJADrbej8?si=Xl9Di1EywSEr1Z3k

05/10/2026

Share widely!

Where: Vermont State House
When: Tuesday, May 12 7AM-10AM
Why: Act 59 (Support H.70!!!!)

Reminder: No weapons of any sort allowed. The State House has gone to a single point of entry with security screening. Bags will be x-rayed and you will be scanned with a metal detector.

The Details: The ground swell around Act 181 has been spectacular to watch. We now have an opportunity to push back on Act 59 and create some reasonable expectations around it. If you don’t know about Act 59, it proposes that 30% of Vermont will be conserved by 2030 and 50% of the landmass will be conserved by 2050. We are currently at 27%, and while 30% could happen, 50% will take a lot of people giving up their land rights. As we know, Act 181 restrictions would have paved the way for this.

Representative Mark Higley offered a bill, H.70, that would recognize the conservation contributions of our working lands. If we include current use for the conservation value it has created for nearly 50 years, we exceed the 50x50 goal without any further land grabs. 

This Tuesday, if you are able, come to the state house, come in, find your representatives, and urge them to vote for H.70 when it is brought up. If you can’t make it, email them. I’ll drop the link to find your legislators in the comments. 

If you want to read it, these were my comments on the Act 59 draft plan from last November. 

Shared with Dropbox

05/07/2026

Today, Representative Mark Higley will offer an amendment to attach H.70 to S.325.

H.70 would count current use lands towards the 30x30 and 50x50 goals in Act 59. By recognizing the conservation contribution of current use, we would quickly realize those goals and there wouldn’t be such a well funded push to take over rural lands.

The amendment will likely be ruled not germane, but the body can take up an amendment that is not germane if they choose to.

Please write your Representatives THIS MORNING, and ask them to support the Higley Amendment even if it is ruled not germane.

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