Working to Protect Vermont’s Natural Treasures

From rolling hills and pastoral lands to rivers and a great lake, Vermont’s identity, culture and economy are inextricably linked to our diverse and vibrant landscape. Preserving and managing this resource is critical to ensuring that we maintain a healthy, productive and beautiful landscape for generations to come.

Senator Leahy is dedicated to the conservation of Vermont’s natural resources. He recognizes the need to balance the interests of conservationists, loggers, farmers and landowners, along with a variety of recreational users, in order to ensure that the landscape we all value will thrive for generations to come.

Lake Champlain

Like so many other Vermonters, Senator Leahy holds Lake Champlain near and dear to his heart, so it should come as no surprise that preserving and protecting it for future generations of Vermonters to enjoy is one of the Senator’s highest priorities. Since his election to the Senate, he has brought in a total of $110 million dollars in federal funding to Vermont and northern New York to protect and clean up Lake Champlain.

Pollution. There are numerous threats to the health of Lake Champlain and Senator Leahy has worked hard to address those threats. To reduce phosphorus pollution of the lake, Senator Leahy helped launch the Environmental Quality Incentive Program. This program now provides over $7 million dollars a year to help Vermont farmers reduce phosphorus runoff by improving their land management practices.

Urban runoff has also contributed to the lake’s pollution problems—storm, industrial and waste water discharges are all concerns. Senator Leahy has been committed to initiatives to reduce such contamination for over 30 years. He helped secure over $10 million to upgrade the sewage treatment plants in the Champlain Basin and $3 million to help communities curb storm water runoff in the greater Burlington area. As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Leahy helped champion the Recovery Act, and, since its passage, $19 million has been committed to upgrade Vermont sewage treatment plants.

Senator Leahy understands the threats posed by invasive species. He supported efforts to control their spread by funding a variety of programs through the Corps of Engineers, USDA and the Forest Service to fight infestations.

Lake Champlain Basin Program. Senator Leahy worked with Senators Jeffords, Moynihan, and D’Amato to enact the Lake Champlain Special Designation Act which created the Lake Champlain Basin Program. The program brings together all parties interested in the lake—public agencies in Vermont, New York, and Quebec along with other private organizations—in conservation efforts aimed at protecting water quality, fisheries, wetlands, wildlife, recreation and cultural resources. Senator Leahy has annually secured over $1 million for the program.

Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. Senator Leahy’s belief in sustaining environmental research and teaching Vermonters about Lake Champlain led him to secure funding to build a home on the Burlington Waterfront for the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, UVM’s Rubenstein School Ecosystem Science Laboratory, Lake Champlain Basin Program Resource Room, Lake Champlain Sea Grant Watershed Alliance and the Lake Champlain Navy Memorial. Called the Patrick and Marcelle Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, he hopes that it will continue his legacy of caring for Vermont’s great treasure, while bringing attention, research and funding to a variety of protection and preservation efforts.

Land Conservation

Senator Leahy is committed to ensuring that Vermont’s lands remain vibrant for current and future generations of Vermonters. As a result of his work, the Green Mountain National Forest has expanded by more than 100,000 acres, a 30% increase. These lands represent key wildlife habitats, pristine headwaters, and productive timber forests.

National Parks. Senator Leahy supported a new National Wildlife Refuge in the Northeast Kingdom and the creation of the Marsh Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, Vermont’s only National Park. Infrastructure improvements in these parks have created good Vermont jobs as well. Senator Leahy secured funds for new ranger stations, trail and facilities maintenance projects in the Green Mountain National Forest, and for the construction of new headquarters and visitor stations for our two national wildlife refuges.

Forest Legacy Program, Community Forest Program. Private owners’ land management also plays a key role in long-term preservation. As a member of the Senate Agriculture and Appropriations Committees, Senator Leahy helped create several programs that help private landowners better manage their land for the long-term benefit of Vermont and its economy. The Leahy Forest Legacy Program has permanently protected over 67,000 acres of forestland in Vermont, and the Forest Stewardship program has helped landowners develop plans for hundreds of thousands more acres.

Maple syrup production also keeps tens of thousands of acres of Vermont hillsides covered in sugar maples. The Proctor Maple Research Center, funded annually by Senator Leahy’s work, has helped Vermont’s maple industry generate income for thousands of private landowners—it remains the biggest in the country.

Senator Leahy has introduced legislation to provide incentives for small forest landowners to adopt forest management practices that will increase their land's capacity to store more carbon, recognizing and valuing the role that private lands play in absorbing our carbon emissions, further preserving Vermont’s forests.

Senator Leahy is credited with the creation of numerous Department of Agriculture farmland conservation programs. The USDA’s Farmland Protection Program has helped permanently protect more than 250 Vermont farms. In addition, the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Conservation Reserve Program, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program are all important conservation programs have provided millions of dollars to help Vermont landowners better manage thousands of acres of private land.