Over the years, off-campus landholdings have increased to roughly 3,000 undeveloped acres in the Champlain Valley that support natural systems, agricultural enterprises, economic and residential development, outdoor recreation, and a continuing rural landscape, as well as approximately 3,000 acres in the Green Mountains, including the campus, forests, fields, and ski areas. 

Planning for the Future

To ensure that any changes to these Champlain Valley landholdings are made with care and forethought, the College, with community input, conducted a thorough review of the lands and their current uses, their future capabilities, their benefits for people and nature, and the values they might help support. Similar comprehensive planning for the Mountain Lands resulted in a 2015 conservation easement that effectively protects those lands in perpetuity. 

Vision Statement
Middlebury College’s land stewardship supports society and nature to help maintain vibrant, sustainable communities, and landscapes. We envision a future where decisions take a long-range view to balance people, planet, and prudent financial management. College lands will continue to support the educational mission of Middlebury as well as human needs for beauty, outdoor recreation, connection to nature, and healthy places to live.

Guiding Principles
At the heart of the Land Stewardship Initiative are the establishment of a Land Stewardship Advisory Group and adherence to the following seven guiding principles:

• Applying principles of environmental sustainability to the stewardship of the College’s lands beyond the main campus.
• Making decisions in a fiscally responsible manner.
• Promoting practices that improve the biological integrity of the broader ecosystems of which the College lands are a part.
• Valuing the traditional Vermont landscape and land uses historically important to Middlebury College and to the larger Vermont community.
• Using lands appropriately to help achieve broader sustainability goals, such as reduction of transportation impacts through development of land close to town centers, or reduction of carbon emissions through development of land for alternative energy sources.
• Making use of existing teaching and research sites and acknowledging the tremendous opportunities for experiential education across disciplines that exist in the College’s network of landholdings.
• Embracing the ideal of compatible uses, recognizing that conservation and fiscal prudence are not mutually exclusive objectives, and resolving that responsible stewardship will carefully consider all of these guiding principles.

This is a really new way of the College interacting with the community, both the College community and the broader community in the region, regarding lands, and thinking about what will serve society’s needs and desires.

—Marc Lapin, Associate Laboratory Professor and College Lands Conservationist