Act 59, passed by the Vermont Legislature in 2023, establishes a statewide vision to maintain an ecologically functional landscape that sustains biodiversity, maintains landscape connectivity, supports watershed health, promotes climate resilience, supports working farms and forests, provides opportunities for recreation and appreciation of the natural world, and supports the historic settlement pattern of compact villages surrounded by rural lands and natural areas. To advance this vision, the Act sets the goals of conserving 30% of Vermont by 2030 and 50% by 2050 and directs the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB), in coordination with the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), to prepare for consideration by the Legislature a statewide conservation plan that includes a comprehensive strategy for achieving the vision and goals of the Act. The Act also required an initial statewide inventory to establish a baseline of land already conserved, which was completed during Phase I of this process and continues to inform the development of the Vermont Conservation Plan. The plan is due to the Legislature by June 2026.
The full language of the Act, which is the source of much of the content that follows, can be found here.
Per the legislation, VHCB, working in close partnership with ANR, is responsible for developing the Vermont Conservation Plan. VHCB is coordinating the planning process, managing consultants, and ensuring that statutory stakeholders and the public have opportunities to provide input, in close consultation with ANR. When the plan is complete, it will be delivered to the Legislature for consideration, authorization, and funding. ANR is the agency that will lead the effort in achieving the Act’s goals, as well as updating the inventory report biennially to track progress towards meeting the vision and goals of the Act.
Act 59 requires VHCB, in consultation with ANR, to:
There is a growing national and international movement to conserve land and water at a scale necessary to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and community resilience. The targets of conserving 30% of Vermont by 2030 and 50% by 2050 were set by the Legislature in Act 59. The 30×30 goal can also be found in Vermont’s Initial Climate Action Plan of December 2021 and the Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful report of 2021 from the National Climate Task Force. The Vermont Conservation Plan will recommend actions and investments to meet both the vision of an ecologically functional and resilient Vermont landscape, while also meeting the 30×30 and 50×50 goals.
Act 59 is the law that sets the goals and requires the creation of a statewide conservation plan. 30×30 and 50×50 are the numeric conservation targets written into that law. The Vermont Conservation Plan is the document that VHCB is developing in consultation with ANR and with input from stakeholders and the public, to recommend actions and investments for Vermont to meet these goals and visions in ways that work for our communities, our farms, and our natural resources.
The project is divided into two phases:
Phase I of Act 59 ran from summer 2023 through September 2024 and was carried out by VHCB in consultation with ANR, with support from a consultant team working at Nature for Justice, as well as numerous staff from partner agencies and organizations. The work combined data analysis with a broad engagement process to answer the ten questions required by statute. An initial Inventory Report was delivered to the Legislature in June 2024, followed by public comments. After reviewing the comments and feedback we received on the draft Inventory Report, including from members of the Legislature VHCB issued an updated memorandum in September 2024, refining the data and recommendations. This first phase provided the foundation for Phase II, which will develop the Vermont Conservation Plan to be delivered to the Legislature by June 2026.
The engagement effort was extensive. Between November 2023 and March 2024, the process included:
Phase I established Vermont’s conservation baseline and highlighted both accomplishments and gaps:
The final Phase I Inventory Report is available on the project website and is linked here.
Internal planning for Phase II began in fall 2024, following completion of the Phase I report. VHCB secured funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund the work of creating the conservation plan, including hiring consultants to support the process. An RFP for project management was advertised on October 1, 2024, and consultants were selected, with planning work beginning in January 2025. Progress was delayed for much of the first half of 2025 due to uncertainties about Federal funding availability, but work resumed in late spring 2025 and has continued since. Phase II is ongoing through the end of June, 2026 and will culminate in delivery of the proposed plan to the Legislature.
The final Vermont Conservation Plan will be assembled by the consultant team, with input from VHCB and ANR staff, incorporating feedback from many rounds of stakeholder input and the public feedback, and finally approved by VHCB leadership in consultation with ANR. The conservation plan that VHCB submits in June 2026 will recommend a comprehensive conservation strategy including specific actions, implementation methods, equity recommendations, and investments to achieve the vision and goals established in Act 59. The plan and recommendations will be delivered for initial consideration by the House Committees on Environment and Energy and on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry, as well as the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy.
The consultant team, working with VHCB and ANR staff, is assembling draft materials that will be refined and expanded in an iterative process as stakeholder and public input continues to be collected. The first Phase II draft, the Framework Report, outlines a set of proposed objectives and pathways designed to guide and focus the actions that will fulfill the vision and goals of Act 59 in the Conservation Plan. Over time, the Framework Report will be expanded into the draft Conservation Plan which will include specific recommended actions under each pathway, metrics to measure progress, and an implementation plan that ANR can use once the plan is adopted.
Drafts will be posted on the project portal, reviewed by VHCB and ANR leadership, shared with the Technical Advisory Committee for input, and content will also be also shared broadly with the public through Regional Listening Sessions and project portal. Moving forward, all draft materials will continue to be posted to the portal with opportunities to comment directly on the portal.
Act 59 requires VHCB, in consultation with ANR, to hold at least 12 public meetings through the Phase I and Phase II process to solicit input from stakeholders. The legislation further clarifies that at least three of those meetings must be designed to solicit comments from the general public.
The statute specifies that input must be sought from a wide range of stakeholders, including:
First in the inventory, and now in the planning phase of the project, VHCB and ANR have sought to exceed the minimum requirements. In our work to complete the inventory, VHCB, ANR and our consultants completed dozens of interviews, received more than a hundred fifty responses to surveys, engaged with five working groups and over twenty-five affinity-based focus groups, held six public meetings and received more than 75 comments on the draft inventory before we finalized that work.
We are continuing our work to broadly include Vermonters’ voices in the work by convening a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), conducting extensive sector-specific engagement, hosting 15 regional listening sessions, and posting draft materials online for public comment.
The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is a group of representatives from the statutory stakeholder groups identified in Act 59. It was convened by the consultant along with VHCB and ANR to serve as a sounding board, provide feedback, and help connect with the stakeholder groups identified in Act 59. The TAC is not a decision-making body but instead is meant to provide input and guidance to the consultant team and VHCB and ANR throughout the planning process.
Yes. Beginning with the September 25th TAC meeting, all TAC meetings will be warned so that members of the public can attend and provide comments consistent with the provisions of Vermont’s Open Meeting Law. This change was made in response to stakeholder feedback requesting greater access to the TAC. Agendas, materials, and notes will be posted on the project portal, which also lists upcoming meeting dates. Each meeting will include an opportunity for public comment, either at the beginning or end depending on the length of the agenda. The TAC will meet several more times throughout the course of the project.
Regional Listening Sessions are opportunities for the public to share input directly with the consultant team and staff. The first round of Regional Listening Sessions were held in July 2025 at four locations across the State and included a virtual session for those who could not attend in person. There will be two more rounds of Regional Listening Session held as part of the project moving forward, the next round in early December 2025 and then again in the early spring of 2026. The project portal will be updated with this information as dates and venues are finalized.
As the project has progressed, VHCB and ANR have adapted the process in response to both stakeholder feedback and practical considerations. The priority remains meeting all statutory requirements of Act 59 to recommend a plan to the Legislature by June 2026, involving statutory stakeholders in drafting the plan, and holding at least 12 public meetings (with at least 3 designed specifically for public comment). That threshold requirement has already been met, but the project team continues to provide additional opportunities for input wherever possible, as has been requested by stakeholder groups and the Technical Advisory Committee. These adjustments are intended to balance the ambitious timeline and scope of work with the need for broad, meaningful engagement.
For more information about the Vermont Conservation Plan, please contact:
Annie Decker
Associate Director of Resource Development & Resiliency
Vermont Housing & Conservation Board
802-661-8958
[email protected]
Rebecca Washburn
Director of Lands Administration and Recreation, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources | Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation
802-793-3432
[email protected]
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