Taking action at the Statehouse!

Mar 11, 2024

“Fight for the things that you care about. But do so in a way that will lead others to join you.” -Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

KT has hit the ground running for the 2024 legislative session! Abby Long, KT’s dedicated Executive Director, has been actively involved at the Statehouse, engaging in conversations that promote, support, and advocate for bills that bolster outdoor recreation investment and preserve our natural landscape and resources in alignment with the KT mission to enhance the health of our local community, surrounding environment, and regional economy.

Here is what we’ve been up to!

Outdoor Recreation Bill H.673

Abby serves on the Executive Committee for the Vermont Trails & Greenways Council (VTGC), an independent nonprofit supporting the Vermont Trail System, officially serving as an advisory body to the Vermont Department of Forest Parks and Recreation (FPR). This session, through VTGC, KT is supporting Bill H.673, an Act relating to Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy. H.673 aims to rightsize investment into outdoor recreation stewardship to benefit Vermont and its communities. The bill proposes initiatives such as;

a statewide outdoor recreation economic impact study to understand better how impact is distributed across recreational activities and land ownership,
administrative support for the Vermont Trails & Greenway Council,
and codifying and agreeing on best management practices with FPR.

H.673 will result in concrete recommendations on many aspects of outdoor recreation, including how we, as a state, invest in trail maintenance and stewardship. Answering the question of how we develop an appropriate mechanism to recognize private landowners will be a critical component of how we retain public access.

Abby has testified on H.673 in both House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry and House Commerce & Economic Development, urging legislatures. View one of Abby’s testimonies here on 02/07/2024! (Starts at 0:45!)

KT’s Landowner Advisory Committee also joined in the advocacy for private landowners who host trails and H.673 at the Statehouse by crafting a letter to send to our legislators on behalf of KT landowners. We encourage all to contact their VT Reps and to monitor H.673 here on Vermont’s legislature website: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/H.673

Outdoor Recreation Day 02.16.2024

Abby, joined by Lukas Ray, KT’s Community Collaboration Director, participated in the first-ever Vermont Outdoor Rec Day (VORD), organized by VOBA, Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance, and VTGC! We joined 85 fellow outdoor recreation professionals, while our friend, Kelly Brush, of the Kelly Brush Foundation, provided a devotional on resiliency and the importance of outdoor recreation, especially as an adaptive athlete. Together, we watched as a Joint Resolution naming February 16th as Outdoor Recreation Day was presented and adopted! The remainder of the day was spent again encouraging the Legislature to pass Bill H.673 and support Bill H.723, which provides for investment in a Flood Recovery Assistance Program and to invest in housing and permit reform to encourage workforce development and business innovation.

Forest Future Strategic Road Map

Abby also serves as the outdoor recreation voice for the Vermont Forest Future Strategic Roadmap Advisory Panel, tasked to create the Vermont Forest Future Strategic Roadmap as established in Act 183 in 2022. This strategic roadmap seeks to strengthen, modernize, promote, and protect the forest products sector and the greater forest economy, of which outdoor recreation is a part. In January 2024, after an 18-month process, the completed roadmap was released to the public. Read it here!

As Abby noted at the Vermont Forest Future Press Conference on 02/22/2024, KT is a true example of recreation that provides renewed economic vitality and operates in a complementary manner with the forest products sector. KT not only elevates our region as an exemplary place to live, work, and play, assisting area businesses’ need to recruit a workforce, but we have also conserved over 400 acres of forest with the Vermont Land Trust, forests enrolled in current use, allowing us to host our first-ever timber harvest last winter. KT is proud to share that story through signage on the trail so trail users from afar pass by and learn, building stronger linkages and understanding between the forest user and the positive impact of the forest economy.

We would like to express our immense gratitude for the 100+ Landowners who make up the KT network and the local businesses, organizations, schools, and stakeholders who make up our community! We advocate with you, for you, and for our future! #community

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