Vermont's Local Leaders for Green Streets and Watershed Health
As Vermont's urban centers grow and rural areas
become home offices or bedroom communities, more
residents are reckoning with the power of local deci-
sion-making to affect both healthy tree canopy and
clean water in the state. The Resilient Right-of-Ways
project, first envisioned as an information-sharing ini-
tiative intended to guide both rural and urban Vermont
communities in roadside community tree care, has blos-
somed into a larger effort to document the challenges
that communities face to balance right-of-way vegetation
with local bylaws, state statutes, water quality mandates,
and road safety. The Vermont Urban & Community
Forestry Program (VT UCF) plays an important role in
supporting local leaders volunteering as tree wardens
and on conservation commissions, connecting them
with the network of professionals managing road-
side trees for beauty, safety, and watershed health.
Vermont's few municipal arborists and many volun-
teer tree wardens advocate for public trees while
weighing the best interests of the community's land-
scape, budget, and risk tolerance. They may team with
town road foremen, conservation commissions, or tree
boards to promote tree canopy, remove risk trees, or
resolve disputes between the town and private land-
owners. While tree wardens must follow the Vermont
Tree Warden Statutes and the direction of their town's
selectboard, they must also interpret the intent of the
self-governing document of their town, the Town Plan.
Local tree wardens and conservation commissions in Vermont examine the best ways to protect roadside
water bodies such as this one in Marshfield, Vermont. Photo Courtesy VT UCF Program
24 CityTREES
