Plain Language
Summarizing the West Mountain Wildlife Management Area Draft Management Plan
Prepared by Marc Lapin

The West Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMWMA) Draft Management Plan is the result of several years of collaboration and negotiation among many groups that have interests in public-lands use and land conservation. Opportunities for public input in the drafting process have been greater than for other state-lands management plans. Public information and comment sessions have been held throughout the planning process, and a Citizens Advisory Council has had a direct conduit to the State and other collaborators.

The draft that was released in October 2001 represents a balance among the demands that people have for the land.

The WMWMA is 22,000 acres, approximately 17% of the former Champion lands total of 132,000 acres. The US Fish and Wildlife Service owns approximately 26,000 acres, nearly 20% of the former paper company landholding. The management of that portion will be for wildlife conservation via a variety of management techniques, and for public uses related to wildlife. The bulk of the former Champion lands is now owned by Essex Timber Company, who will manage their 84,000 acres (64% of the entire parcel) for sustainable timber production and public recreation. In fact, the people of Vermont have guaranteed access to the Essex lands in perpetuity for outdoor-based recreation activities that are traditional on these Northeast Kingdom lands, and have guaranteed that these lands will forever be utilized for sustainable production of timber.

The Management Approach Proposed for West Mountain WMA

The goals of management of the WMWMA follow from the mission of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife Department. In accord with those missions the state lands will be managed to conserve the native plants and wildlife of the area—including both game and nongame wildlife species—and to provide fish and wildlife-based recreation opportunities for the public.

To meet the missions and the goals, the WMA Draft Plan proposes two complementary management approaches. Active management will occur on approximately 10,000 acres of the WMA and passive management will occur on approximately 12,000 acres. Of these two approaches, active management is the one that is most familiar to the general public and is what most people think of when they consider what wildlife management entails. Active management includes deer wintering area management, creation of early successional forest, creation of permanent upland openings, maintenance of beechnut mast production, and establishment of a forest that includes stands of many different ages. Commercial timber harvest is often used to create the conditions that are optimal for the game species that wildlife managers actively manage for.

Passive management is a newer, less familiar approach that attempts to conserve the broad array of plant and animal species and natural communities that occur on a landscape. The philosophy that underpins passive management is one that concedes that humans know quite a bit about a few things, but not much about many parts of the functioning of the natural world. That is, we know how to manage for the few species that we have been studying in detail and managing for somewhat intensively over the past century or so, and we know how to maintain water quality. We don’t, however, know nearly as much about conserving the full array of creatures and interrelationships that have been evolving for millennia. Species evolved on broad and ever-changing landscapes, so to best conserve (and allow for continued evolution of) the majority of species, it is prudent to preserve broad sections of landscape that are representative of larger climatic-geologic regions.

The WMWMA Draft Management Plan thus proposes that 9% of the former Champion lands (12,000 of 132,000 acres) be managed by the passive management approach. This area is being called the "core area." Within the core area, human uses that are compatible with ecological processes will be allowed, but the dominant driving force in the core will be natural processes. The predominant natural processes in the forests include windthrow, ice and snow damage, physiological tree death, and beaver flooding. Fire is a minor disturbance agent in the northern New England forests, and a very detailed fire management plan will be developed by the state over the next two years to protect human safety and property.


Brief Summary of Some Human Uses Addressed in the Draft Plan

Hunting, fishing and trapping in the core will continue. There is only one proposed change to these activities—hunting with bait will not be allowed. As always, hunting, fishing and trapping will be managed in accord with State Fish and Wildlife Regulations.

Hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, back-country low-impact camping, dogs, non-motorized and electric-trolling-motor boats all will be permitted in the core. Bicycling will be permitted on designated travel corridors.

Snowmobiling will conitinue as before in the WMA. Although motorized recreation is not permitted in the core, the core has been designed to the greatest extent possible to not interfere with the existing snowmobile trail system. As a result, only one section of trail may need to be relocated. People will be allowed to continue to enjoy a favored winter activity, while a high level of conservation is achieved on a large piece of land.

A number of people have built camps on land leased from Champion. These people who have camps in the WMWMA will be able to keep their camps and leases for their lifetimes plus twenty years. But, if they would rather not, they have the option to sell their camps at fair market value determined by an appraiser. USFWS has established a similar policy on the wildlife refuge lands. This guarantee of lifetime use is much more secure than the short-term leases offered by Champion.

There will be road closures in the core. Champion built a long network of roads to facilitate transportation of timber to markets. Ecologists now recognize roads as fragmenting features that disrupt natural processes (i.e., create edge effects, cause erosion, disrupt natural hydrology, disrupt animal behavior and movement). Since many of the roads in the core are dead-end roads, these will be phased out of use. Camp access is assured to leaseholders, and no through-roads in the WMA are proposed for closure. A through-road that bisects the proposed core will remain open, as an exception to the closure of roads in the core but in accord with the non-closure of through roads. There will be no area that is further than 1 3/4 miles from a road.

Why Establish a Core Area on WMWMA?

West Mountain Wildlife Management Area is both a typical and a unique part of the Northeast Kingdom landscape. For that reason it is an excellent place for a large, well-buffered conservation area that includes a core reserve. The years of negotiation and planning have resulted in 132,000 acres of forever forested land that has commercial timber use on an 84,000-acre perimeter surrounding two ecologically superb areas designated for conservation of wildlife and compatible human uses.

West Mountain WMA includes some of the ecological jewels of Vermont. It is home to a broad array of rare and uncommon plant and animal species, including some that are endangered or threatened in the state. There are 36 rare or uncommon plant species known to occur in the WMA, 23 rare and uncommon invertebrate species (mostly insects, one mussel), 3 rare or uncommon fish species, 10 rare or uncommon bird species (plus an additional 17 species that are considered to be regional priorities for bird conservation).

There are also 28 natural community types in the WMA. One type is considered very rare, 8 types are considered rare, and 8 types are considered to be uncommon in Vermont. In total there are 31 natural community types and variants (recognized, repeated variations in the general make-up of the community) in the WMA that are considered to have high-enough ecological integrity to be significant examples of those types at the statewide level. Additionally, there are miles of very natural stream ecosystems that are recognized by the State as some of the most intact aquatic systems in Vermont. Furthermore, there are 11 ponds in the WMA that are among the best examples of intact pond ecosystems in Vermont. Many of the ponds are very highly ranked for rare plant occurrences and wilderness-like attributes. The ponds include one that has more rare species of plants than any other lake or pond in the state, aside from Lake Champlain.

The passive management approach will conserve 9% of the former Champion lands in a way that increases ecological integrity of the upland, wetland and aquatic natural communities to the highest extent possible. It will also allow for the maturation and development of old-growth forest on thousands of acres of unfragmented northern hardwood and red spruce-hardwood forest. This matrix of naturally functioning forest is expected to be large enough to absorb the largest stand-initiating natural disturbances expected in this geographic setting while still maintaining a substantial acreage of very old forest.


The Larger Picture

Since the times of George Perkins Marsh’s warnings about the degradation of the soil, wildlife and forests, Vermont has been seen as a leader in conservation, and our present landscape is indicative of that strong conservation ethic. The Agency of Natural Resources is taking a bold step based on the latest understanding of conservation science and based on analyses of what is lacking within the regional conservation system. They have taken a collaborative approach that has resulted in a very balanced plan that proposes a substantial acreage passively managed for the highest levels of ecological benefit while still allowing the public to enjoy the broad array of uses—both traditional and new—on 22,000 acres of beautiful forests, wetlands, ponds, and streams.