Vermont Forest Future Strategic Roadmap Stakeholder Survey #1

INTRODUCTION

WELCOME TO THE VERMONT FOREST FUTURE STRATEGIC ROADMAP STAKEHOLDER SURVEY

This is the first survey as part of the Vermont Forest Future Strategic Roadmap project. The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) is embarking on a robust public engagement process through 2022/2023 to identify opportunities to help Vermont chart a path forward to protect the long-term viability of forest-based businesses - and the many benefits they provide to the state's environment, economy and quality of life. By January 2024, FPR will deliver to the General Assembly the Vermont Forest Future Strategic Roadmap – a ten-year plan to strengthen, modernize, promote, and protect Vermont’s forest products sector and the broader forest economy. The project was authorized by the Vermont Legislature and signed into law by Governor Scott in Act 183 of 2022.

The intended outcomes of the Vermont Forest Future Strategic Roadmap are to:

Increase sustainable economic development and jobs in Vermont's forest economy
Promote ways to expand the workforce and strengthen forest product enterprises
Promote the importance of healthy, resilient and sustainably managed working forests
Identify actionable strategies to strengthen, modernize, promote and protect Vermont's forest products sector

Definitions:

Forest economy: the economic system and interrelated connections of Vermont’s forests with the consumers, producers, and providers of forest products and forest-based services and uses.
Forest products sector: economic sub-sector that includes forest products enterprises and wood products manufacturers.
Forest products enterprises: businesses primarily engaged as forestry service providers or operators (including harvesting and trucking of forest products) and forest or wood product manufacturers, craftspeople, brokers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, etc.
Wood products manufacturers: businesses that produce a value-added physical and tangible good or product through special manufacturing, marketing, crafting, or processing forest or primary wood products.
Working forests: refers to forestland managed for the purpose of producing forest products, goods, and services, including the intangible public benefits provided by those forestlands such as aesthetics, contributions to the outdoor recreation and tourism sectors, and exemplifying the ecological, community, and land values of Vermonters.
Forest product: (10 V.S.A. § 2602) logs; pulpwood; veneer; bolt wood; wood chips; stud wood; poles; pilings; biomass; fuel wood; maple sap; or bark.

To launch the Vermont Forest Future Strategic Roadmap project, we would like to understand your perspective about key topics shaping the future of the forest economy and forest products sector in Vermont.

PLEASE NOTE: We are asking a series of in-depth questions in this survey. There are 13 main topic questions, and it will take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. The survey will time-out if you leave it open (and incomplete). You cannot save a partial survey and come back to it later. We recommend you find a comfortable place, allow some uninterrupted time and share your thoughts and views.

WE PLAN TO KEEP THE SURVEY OPEN UNTIL January 31, 2023
For more details on the Vermont Forest Future Strategic Roadmap project and to get more involved in the process, please go to the project portal https://lab2.future-iq.c

14% of survey complete.