Otter Creek Wetlands committee shifts its goal

SALISBURY — An effort to petition Vermont environmental officials to award the state’s highest protections to the Otter Creek Wetland Complex has shifted course, according to Heidi Willis, chair of the Otter Creek Reclassification Steering Committee. The committee, which assembled in early 2019, initially sought a Class I designation under Vermont Wetland Rules for the 1,500-acre complex of swamps running from Middlebury to Brandon. Approximately 500 landowners in seven towns and two counties own private pr … (read more)

CORNWALL — Farmers and other landowners who are worried that an effort to reclassify the Otter Creek Wetland Complex as a Class I wetland would affect their current eligibility for federal conservation funds needn’t worry, according to representatives of … (read more)

CORRECTION: In a June 24 story regarding this topic, it was incorrectly stated that land within the buffer of a Class II or Class I wetland that is allowed to lay fallow for “a year or more might not be able to be returned to its fullest use, when in fact … (read more)