History

In 1994, the Northern Forest Lands Council published its final report, "Finding Common Ground." In that report, the council recommended, among other things, that the states in the region design systems of ecological reserves to protect the biodiversity of the region.

In 1995, The Nature Conservancy of Vermont, in response to that recommendation, convened a group of representatives from many of the agencies and organizations involved in conservation in Vermont. From this group the Vermont Biodiversity Project was born.

The overarching vision of the Vermont Biodiversity Project is to maintain ecological integrity in a manner that insures the long-term viability of all native species and natural community types in Vermont within their natural ranges (Vermont Biodiversity Project 1996)

The project was conceived in three phases, with goals as follows:

Phase I: To design and map a system of priority conservation areas that protects the full diversity of landscapes, natural communities, and species that occur in the state. This phase of the project will rely on a comprehensive analysis of existing data.

Phase II: To verify the representation of natural communities in the system of priority conservation areas and to revise the initial design if necessary.

Phase III: To complete a statewide inventory of natural communities and to again revise the design of priority conservation areas.

This web site reports the results of Phase I.

Related efforts:

Northern Forest Lands Study

ANR Land Conservation Plan

ANR Biodiversity Committee

Sprawl initiative

TNC Ecoregional Planning

Greater Laurentian Wildlands Project

Regional and municipal planning efforts