Future of Vermont landscape to be topic of panel discussion Oct. 2

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.?”The Future of the Vermont Landscape: Cities and Wilderness, Farms and Forests” will be the subject of a panel discussion at Middlebury College on Thursday, Oct. 2, from 7-9 p.m. Experts participating in the event are Alex Wylie, agricultural director at the Vermont Land Trust; Tom Butler, director of education and advocacy at the Wildlands Project and editor of Wild Earth journal; Richard Donovan, chief of forestry at SmartWood; and Sarah Judd, associate director of the Vermont Forum on Sprawl. Both the Wildlands Project and SmartWood are based in Richmond, while the Vermont Forum on Sprawl is located in Burlington. The event, which will take place in the conference room of the Robert A. Jones House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125), is free and open to the public.

Each of the panelists will give brief comments. A moderated discussion will then take place among panel guests followed by a public question-and-answer session.

Middlebury College student Andrew Savage, a native of Calais who will graduate in March, organized the event. “Agriculture, forest, sprawl and wilderness policy play an enormous role in shaping the future of Vermont’s open space. This forum will explore what can be done to conserve Vermont’s important but threatened open spaces by integrating these policy areas we often treat separately,” said Savage.

For more information, contact Andrew Savage at asavage@middlebury.edu or 443-4255.

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