Association of Vermont Conservation Commissions

The Forests, Wildlife, and Communities Project is a collaboration among the Mad River Valley Planning District, local and state conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, and representatives in the towns in the Mad River Valley. The Forests, Wildlife, and Communities Project is involved in various efforts throughout the Mad River Valley which seek to implement a regional and landscape level approach to wildlife and forestland conservation through public and community involvement. One of the projects associated with the Forests, Wildlife, and Communities Project, involved the creation of tiered ecological community maps for the Mad River Valley area. These maps were created using the information provided from natural resource inventories conducted by Arrowwood Environmental in the towns of Fayston, Waitsfield, and Warren. The inventories included information on wildlife habitats, upland natural communities, wetlands, vernal pools, contiguous habitat, corridors, and rare elements present in these three towns.

The map categorized the land as primary, secondary, or tertiary conservation priority areas. The primary areas may contain rare, threatened, or endangered species, vernal pools, riparian habitats, locally significant natural communities, or road crossings. Secondary and tertiary conservation areas may also include some of these important species, habitats, or community types, but often have larger buffers and are more resilient to human encroachment. Thus, development is less restricted in secondary areas, and even less so in tertiary conservation areas, whereas development in primary conservation areas is heavily regulated or prohibited.

Natural resource inventories can be overwhelming to those without an extensive science background, and this project aimed to increase the usefulness of the information gained from the inventory by translating the inventory findings from a hard science language to a more applicable action planning viewpoint. Once the inventory documents were translated, town planning commissions or conservation commissions could consider the opportunities for conservation in their community, and potentially implement these actions in future zoning or planning regulations. This tool is intended for municipal and watershed level planning by municipal governments. The map highlights areas of ecological importance in hopes that it will be used in tandem with community-based value mapping, to guide future changes to planning and zoning strategies.