This Act 181 is a truly insane piece of legislation. I say this as a life-long dyed in the wool actual environmentalist and ecological land planner of 25 years who's planted 12,500+ trees, has made a career of advancing watershed health and have been working in forest and wild land protection for my entire adult life. This is being flown under "environmental sustainability" as the purported goal but it seems that this can't be it.

susan & thomas

I am a registered nurse, and my husband served for over 30 years. We have both dedicated our lives to service, caring for others and contributing to our communities.

I scraped together every dime I had to purchase my land in rural Vermont. This wasn’t a luxury. It was a lifelong goal built on hard work, overtime hours and sacrifice. After meeting my husband, we realized we shared the same passion for the outdoors and for living simply on the land.

Our dog roams freely as she should.

Much of our property includes headwaters, and we take that responsibility very seriously. We are committed to protecting water quality, preserving wildlife habitat, and stewarding the land for future generations.

Today, we cut our own firewood, spend time in the woods in every season, and care deeply about the wildlife and environment around us. We plan to retire on this land and produce maple syrup, continuing Vermont’s agricultural traditions.

Policies like Act 181 risk creating barriers for people like us, not developers, but everyday Vermonters who have worked hard, served their country and communities, and simply want to live responsibly on their own land.

I respectfully ask that policymakers reconsider how this law impacts rural landowners and ensure it does not prevent individuals like us from building a home, supporting small-scale agriculture, and living the Vermont way of life.