About the Working Landscape Partnership Program

The Vermont Council on Rural Development, which founded and led the Council on the Future of Vermont, is following up on key findings from that comprehensive study of public priorities by launching the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership. The Working Landscape Council adopted a Vermont Working Landscape Action Plan in September 2011 to support Vermont's Working Landscape for the next generation. This major policy effort will advance the working landscape by supporting the businesses that have produced and stewarded that landscape and new innovative enterprise development to advance these industries for a new generation.

VCRD's board adopted The Vermont Working Landscape Partnership Charge ~ A framing document from VCRD organizing the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership and its governing Council. VCRD is facilitating this Council which will further articulate the plan, define how to implement it, and lead the campaign for its implementation.

Reports and Inputs

• The Vermont Working Landscape Action Plan: "Investing in our Farm and Forest Future" is the foundation for the newly formed Vermont Working Landscape Partnership. Vermonters - both individuals and organizations - who support the Plan and who are willing to take action based on its goals can join the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership (click the Join Button on the sidebar on the right).
• The Action Plan, published in September 2011, was developed based on months of deliberation and a comprehensive look at:
  • Statistical Indices on Vermont’s Working Landscape
  • Historical Digest of Recommendations for Vermont Working Landscape Policy ~ a digest of the last three decades of policy findings related to diversification, value added development, conservation and land use planning
    
  • Strategies for Promoting Working Landscapes in North America and Europe, August 2010, Cheryl Morse of the University of Vermont ~ international models of working landscape policy and investment
• State House Summit ~ As a step in supporting the progress of farm, forest and value-adding businesses in Vermont, VCRD held a Working Landscape Summit at the Vermont State House on December 10, 2010 which brought together over 300 Vermonters – state, federal, nonprofit, and community leaders – to review the draft Working Landscape Platform. The Partnership launched with nearly half of the Participants joining by the end of the day.