In a move to consolidate land and timber rights, the Vermont State Department of Fish and Wildlife has sought to acquire a large parcel of land on Snake Mountain to open for public use and recreational purposes. Snake Mountain Wildlife Management Area currently spans the mountain ridge along the town line of Addison and Weybridge and is one of roughly 100 such areas across the state.
Will Duane, the land acquisition coordinator for the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, manages all of the state’s real estate transactions regarding both wildlife management areas and stream-bank area management parcels. As part of his work, Duane has been closely involved in efforts to consolidate ownership at Snake Mountain, which he said was a project with roots going back several decades.
“The property was sold back to the state in the late 1950s, early 1960s, by the A. Johnson Timber Company,” Duane said. “At the time, the wildlife management area was established, but the A. Johnson Timber Company retained for themselves the right to harvest all the timber and trees, on around 950 acres of the land. The effort has been to acquire those timber rights in the instances in which we don’t have them.”
Across Vermont, there are about 15 wildlife areas where the department owns land without owning its timber rights, as these two entities are legally separable and can be severed from land interest.
“The A. Johnson Company is now interested in selling the timber rights as well as two properties they own in the town of Addison and in the town of Weybridge,” Duane said. “In addition to that, we will be receiving via donation two properties in the town of Addison that the Nature Conservancy owns… this will allow us to gain more site control with the acquisition of the timber rights.”
Hannah Redmon, a project manager on the Land Protection team at Trust for Public Land, has been working in Vermont with a focus on the Green Mountains and communities across the state. Redmon emphasized the ecological benefits of consolidating land and timber rights under one public agency.
“Since the timber rights are currently owned by a private company, they are managing the timber to harvest it for profit. They are also trying to be good, responsible stewards of the land,” Redmon told The Campus. “But when Fish and Wildlife owns those timber rights, they will be able to manage the land and the timber rights together, and manage them for the land, the wildlife and the recreation. So having one ownership of the timber rights and the land allows for more cohesive management.”
The Department of Fish and Wildlife’s broader mission to expand and unify wildlife management areas is an ongoing effort that will enable increased public access and recreational use across the state.
“Hunting, trapping, angling… hiking, snow-shoing, anything low impact and dispersed is encouraged and allowed on all of our lands,” Duane said. “We are adding all the time to our public land holdings.”
The presence of federally endangered bat species on several of these properties has also helped streamline the acquisition process, as protecting the critical habitat for these species has provided additional leverage and justification for state involvement.
“We have applied for a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve the habitat for these bat species, and we have received a grant award from the Vermont Conservation Board for the acquisition of these properties,” Duane said.
