Andrews Community Forest

Thanks to everyone who participated in the management plan meeting last Wednesday! And a special thanks to the panelists from Richmond Racial Equity, Hinesburg Town Forest, Arrowwood Environmental, and Vermont Land Trust.

Our facilitator (Melissa Levy, Community Roots) is compiling feedback from the attendees to be reported to the committee. Stay tuned for updates at one of our monthly meetings (details posted on the town website, town center bulletin board, and Front Porch Forum).

In March 2022 the Andrews Community Forest Committee proposed a trail route for public consideration and feedback (https://bit.ly/3aeDMbw). During the following weeks, community members shared their views about the proposed route via an online form. The Committee read these comments, considered what bearing they have on implementation of the management plan, and wrote responses to each topic (i.e., question, statement, or concern) expressed by community members. These comments and responses are one piece of an ongoing public engagement process as the Committee navigates implementation of a complex management plan on a complex parcel of land.

The Committee thanks the many community members who are passionate supporters of the forest for their care and concern about how the town manages this shared resource. All members of the community are invited to review this new document that outlines community input on the proposed trail route and Committee responses to that input. This document is available on the ACF website or https://bit.ly/3aCpOQP. The Committee anticipates making printed copies of the primary sections of this document available at the Town Center in the near future. These printed copies will be approximately 13 pages long - the entire document includes all comments, is over 100 pages long, and is available online only.

Community members are always welcome to contact the committee by attending a monthly meeting (date and time posted via Front Porch Forum and the town website) or by emailing the committee at [email protected].

Hello, Richmond Residents:

Great thanks to all for the excellent response to the Committee's request for public comments on the proposed ACF trail design. We received approximately 130 comments, which the Committee has analyzed to inform our next steps. While there countless valuable points raised in these comments, three general findings could be derived from our initial analysis --

1. Consistent with the initial public engagement process that influenced the development of the ACF Master Plan, there exists great enthusiasm among Richmond residents to move forward with the introduction of recreational trails. The majority of the public comments received supported the ACFC's current proposed trail design.

2. Of those not supportive of the ACFCs proposed trail design, we received substantive comments questioning whether the ACFC had done enough to ensure the trail design complied with the ACF Master Plan and did so in a manner that took appropriate steps to minimize impacts on sensitive natural areas whenever possible; other respondents argued the original trail design presented by Arrowwood/Sinuosity complied with the Master Plan and questioned the ACFC's rationale for electing to eliminate one of the trails included in the Arrowwood/Sinuosity design.

3. A smaller yet significant number of comments focused on the need for the ACFC to better communicate its vision behind, and rationale for, the proposed trail design and to hold additional public engagement to ensure the credibility of the trail design with regard to the ACF Master Plan before such plan is advanced to the Selectboard for final approval.

Based on these general findings, the ACFC's next steps are as follows:

1. Analyze Questions and Respond to Community -- Over the coming weeks, the ACFC will work to distill the questions and concerns posed during the public comment period, consider if further modifications to the proposed trail design are appropriate, and provide a written report to Richmond residents responding to the key questions and concerns and detailing our final recommended trail design.

2. Release of Draft Revised Management Plan and Holding of Public Meeting -- The ACFC's final recommended trail design is required to be incorporated into a Revised ACF Management Plan. In addition to the trail design, this Revised Management Plan will incorporate additional changes, including incorporation of an Indigenous Land Acknowledgement. A proposed revision to the ACF Management Plan is required to go through a public engagement process before being submitted to the Selectboard for approval. Once the ACFC's draft Revised ACF Management Plan is complete, we will circulate it to the Richmond community for review and comment and hold a public meeting to consider further public comment and feedback.

3. Recommendation of Revised ACF Management Plan to Richmond Selectboard -- Once the ACFC incorporates any modifications or changes to the Revised ACF Management Plan based on the public engagement process, it will recommend approval of the Revised ACF Management Plan to the Richmond Selectboard. The Richmond Selectboard will call a formal public meeting at which time it will consider final approval of the Revised ACF Management Plan.

Sincere thanks to all for your continued interest and engagement in this important process. Balancing the interests of conservation and recreation are challenging. The ACFC is striving to do so responsibly and consistent with the objectives spelled out in the ACF Management Plan.


Jesse Crary, Chair

Andrews Community Forest Committee

At the February 28 Andrews Community Forest Committee ("ACFC") Meeting, the ACFC took action to approve proposal of an ACF Trail Design to Richmond residents for consideration and comment. Please see the ACF website (http://www.richmondvt.gov/boards-minutes/conservation-commission/richmond-town-forest/) for links to the key information and documents that informed the ACFC's deliberative process.

The proposed trail design differs from the original trail design developed by Arrowwood/Sinuosity in one way: it does not include the western most of the three parallel trails in the northeast quadrant of the forest. The ACFC made this edit in response to public concern about its proximity to a sensitive ecological zone. The ACFC's proposed trail design retains the two trails in the northeast quadrant farther from that zone in order to retain the potential for trail users to have a loop route in that area.

The ACFC urges all Richmond residents to share their thoughts on this Trail Design via the comment form on the ACF website. This comment form will be open at least until the next ACFC meeting on March 28.

Andrews Community Forest - Richmond, VT Andrews Community Forest The Richmond Town Forest was established in 2018. Through the generosity of the Andrews family, the Town acquired and conserved 428 acres of forestland and farmland through the Vermont Land Trust and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. This land will be protected as....

Thanks to Richmond Mountain Trails, three interconnecting loops have been groomed for snowshoeing, skiing, or fat biking on the Andrews Community Forest, Maple Wind Farm fields, and Vermont Youth Conservation Corps land. Access is from the parking lot at Andrews Community Forest. Walkers, if at all possible, use snowshoes or avoid the groomed trails to prevent post-holing. Again, thanks to Richmond Mountain Trails for providing the grooming machine and the volunteers to make these great loops so enjoyable.

Links to the trail proposal presented at the August 24 public meeting below.

Map: https://tinyurl.com/raj3jx9d
Report: https://tinyurl.com/wpjm7k2b

**Meeting, August 24, 7:00pm re: trails at ACF**

The Andrews Community Forest Committee is holding a special meeting about trail planning on August 24 at 7:00pm. Community members are welcome to attend in person (with a mask, please), via Zoom, or by phone. Topics will focus on discussion of the proposed trail route. Representatives from the trail planning firm and the ecological assessment firm that developed the proposed trail route will be presenting and available for questions.

Related materials (including a map of proposed trails) and information on how to attend are available at http://www.richmondvt.gov/boards-minutes/conservation-commission/richmond-town-forest/

Questions? Please email [email protected]