A father and daughter enjoy an autumn day at a former quarry that would be protected in the new Barre Town Community Forest. In the last decade The Trust for Public Land has helped expand or create 11 community forests in Vermont and New Hampshire, totaling more than 25,000 acres.
the years since, the forest has generated 5.5 million board feet of timber for lumber and paper pulp. Just as important, the forest protects favorite hik-
ing trails of the Randolph Mountain Club, pockets of old-growth trees, beaver ponds, and vernal pools hop- ping with frogs. Hunters, backcountry skiers, and three snowmobile clubs share the terrain. Small meadows offering spectacular views of the Presidential Range have been cleared to support breeding woodcock and migrant birds—meadows where houses would likely stand had the land been sold for development. “Rec- reation and wildlife are our bottom line,” says David Willcox, one of three community members who spear- headed the effort. As in Randolph and Barre Town, preserving opportu-
nities for recreation is often an important goal of the new community forest projects, Rodger Krussman says. “A New England town forest serves the same purpose as a neighbor- hood park or community garden does for city dwellers—it’s where we can get outside to exercise and play.”
38 LAND&PEOPLE Spring/Summer 2012 But the idea of community- and municipal-owned
forests long ago escaped New England. Atlanta, Georgia, owns a 10,000-acre forest. Jefferson Memorial Forest— owned by Louisville, Kentucky, and enlarged four times with TPL’s help in recent years—tops 6,200 acres and bills itself as a recreation destination for that city’s residents. “The movement is really about reconnecting people
with their forests,” says Jad Daley, who leads TPL’s com- munity forest policy work in Washington, D.C. “If you live in suburban Atlanta or Louisville, those forests are your Yellowstone National Park. They’re the most impor- tant forestlands in the world to you.” Daley has been helping to lead a national coalition
of some 130 organizations in support of the Community Forest Program, a new federal grant program created in 2008 by Vermont’s senior senator, Patrick Leahy, and administered by the U.S. Forest Service. The program will make 50-50 matching grants to towns, Indian tribes, and local land trusts to purchase land for community forests, with a focus on economic and environmental benefits,