Vermont
Support for regrowing Haiti’s forests has roots in Vermont – VTDigger
The Bicknell’s thrush, a small, brown songbird, faces dual environmental threats: In its summer home among New England’s tallest peaks, such as Vermont’s Mount Mansfield, climate change is altering the landscape, and could push out the scrubby vegetation it favors for nesting.
In the winter, the thrush takes flight, traveling more than 1,500 miles to Hispaniola, the Caribbean island home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Particularly in Haiti, a history of colonization has contributed to sprawling deforestation, leaving only a fraction of the country covered in forest.
Now, members of a group co-founded by Vermont biologist Julia Pupko and Haitian organizer Jean-Fenel Dorvilier are attempting to mend the wounds of deforestation, both for the sake of wildlife like the Bicknell’s thrush, and for Haitian residents who need forests to sustain their communities. The group is based in Duchity, a rural municipality in southwestern Haiti.
The organization, called Society for the Reforestation of Duchity, Haiti, was founded in 2020 and has filled a gap left by Vermont Haiti Project, a nonprofit organization that began providing humanitarian services in rural Haiti in 2007. The Vermont Haiti Project provided mentorship to the new organization before it disbanded in December 2023.
Before it was colonized by the Spanish in the late 1400s, the island of Hispaniola was largely covered in forest, Pupko said. France colonized the western part of the island in the 1600s, now known as Haiti. Enslaved people in Haiti rebelled against the French, winning independence in 1804 — but the United States, France and others stifled the country’s development, and France required Haiti to pay it reparations, they noted. All the while, forest cover decreased.
”A lot was accomplished by cutting down valuable timber trees such as mahogany species, and also exporting things like indigo and sugar and other cash crops, which you also typically will deforest to do,” Pupko said.
Participants in the Society for the Reforestation of Duchity, Haiti’s Arbor Day event plant a tree on May 1, 2024. Photo courtesy of Julia PupkoThe United States later occupied Haiti from 1915 until 1934, and during that time, forest cover dropped from 60% to around 20% as the U.S. converted land for agricultural use, Pupko said. Political turmoil within the country more recently has contributed to change on the landscape, too, they said.
As a child, Dorvilier’s birthday fell on Haiti’s Arbor Day, so he’d spend the day planting trees, an act that fostered his appreciation for forests. He volunteered with the Vermont Haiti Project, bringing volunteers into the mountains to place seedlings into the earth.
That’s where he met Pupko, who got involved with the Vermont Haiti Project as a student at University of Vermont. Pupko currently works as a forestry specialist with the Vermont Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation, a post that is unrelated to their involvement with the organization.
Though Pupko and Dorvilier spoke different languages at the time, they came to know each other through their shared interest in forests.
“We kind of just spent a lot of time together, sharing words for trees, sharing words for different things, and really understood that both of us had a deep love for trees,” Pupko said. “We stayed in touch over the years and began developing a stronger friendship over that time, continuing to circle back to our shared love of forests and trees and reforestation, which culminated in 2020 in our decision to form a reforestation and agroforestry organization together.”
The Duchity reforestation project’s mission is distinct from that of the Vermont Haiti Project. The latter was primarily focused on public health, with projects that ranged from starting a medical clinic, improving access to clean water and providing disaster relief after the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
The new organization is focused on regrowing forest and improving the environment in Duchity. Its largest project takes place on Arbor Day, when members work with local schools and community members to plant trees. They host workshops on different topics, showing how to harvest large tree branches to use for construction, for example, without cutting the entire tree. Last May, 100 participants planted more than 1,000 trees during the event.
Its efforts could help wildlife like the Bicknell’s thrush. While the bird is not listed as federally threatened or endangered, Partners in Flight, a group that tracks bird populations, ranks the species on its Red Watch list, its highest level of concern.
Pupko pointed to literature showing evidence that the bird uses regenerating forests and agroforestry plots in the locations where it spends its winter.
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One of the Society for the Reforestation of Duchity, Haiti’s community forests. Photo courtesy of Julia PupkoBut the reforestation group’s goals, Pupko said, are centered around the community as much as the environment. It manages 36 acres of forest in two locations, which serve as an educational space and a resource for community members who can harvest products from them. If someone needs lumber to build a home, the organization’s staff — most of whom are from the community or live in Haiti — will work with them to sustainably harvest trees, Pupko said. In exchange, those who take from the forest are asked to help maintain it.
“Our projects come from a number of agronomists and agroforesters that are from Duchity or surrounding (areas),” Pupko said. “When we’re working on projects, they talk to the elders in the community. They talk to the youth in the community. They have these big meetings that all different stakeholders are coming to and are bringing up different issues they want to address.”
Those, then, are incorporated into their plans, Pupko said.
The organization operates by “emphasizing meeting the needs of the community in the work that we do as our primary objective, so that’s ensuring people have the tools and materials to be implementing these projects,” they said. But that mission “cannot be separated from the importance of overall ecosystem health and conservation.”
The two issues are inseparable, Pupko said, for many reasons: Large tracts of forest prevent mudslides after severe rains and hurricanes; the immediate environment is healthier for people and wildlife; an improved ecosystem can help clean water and improve agriculture.
One of the organization’s projects involves eight farmers who work with the reforestation group to implement or support sustainable farming practices.
“A lot of times, that’s providing seedlings,” Pupko said. “It may also be providing tools. Some farmers, they may know exactly what agroforestry strategy they want to implement and exactly how to care for the trees. But for other people, they may not know. So then in that case, we would provide them with the educational resources that they would need in order to successfully do this.”
Farmers and other community members approve of the organization, Dorvilier said in an interview, which made him understand that “this is something we can continue doing.”
Participants in the Society for the Reforestation of Duchity, Haiti’s Arbor Day event on May 1, 2024. Photo courtesy of Julia Pupko
“Now, we have about 35 people working with us in the community,” he said.
Dorvilier’s concerns about forests run deep. Without them, animals disappear and agriculture becomes harder, he said.
“Without trees, I think there is no life,” he said.
That sentiment could apply to a bird Vermont conservationists have been concerned about for years. But efforts to protect the Bicknell’s thrush’s habitat in Vermont and New England only go so far, Pupko said.
“If you ignore where they spend half of their year, their overwintering habitat, there’s no way that the species can continue to thrive,” they said.
“There’s many different creatures that migrate as winter falls here,” Pupko said. “The deep connection that is formed through sharing these miraculous species is really special and something that I think is worth supporting.”
Nearly 1,000 Vermont students will bring live jazz to downtown Burlington this June as part of the 2026 Discover Jazz Festival, with dozens of school ensembles scheduled to perform free concerts on Church Street.
According to a community announcement, 44 ensembles from 36 schools, representing 993 students from across Vermont, will take part in the festival’s 43rd year.
The student concerts are organized by The Flynn, which produces the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival and oversees its education and community programs. All student performances are free and open to the public.
Student performances highlight statewide participation
Participating schools span Vermont, including Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties, central Vermont, Addison County, Lamoille Valley, the Northeast Kingdom and southern Vermont, along with visiting ensembles from New York, according to the announcement.
Chittenden County schools listed include Burlington High School, Champlain Valley Union High School, Charlotte Central School, Colchester High School and Middle School, Edmunds Elementary and Middle schools, Essex High School and Middle School, South Burlington High School, Winooski Middle High School and Vermont Commons School, among others.
The student performances will take place during the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, which runs June 3–7 and features free outdoor concerts alongside ticketed performances by internationally recognized artists curated by MacArthur fellow Jason Moran.
Featured collaboration includes Vermont Youth Orchestra musicians
A featured performance during the festival, “My Heart Sings: Jason Moran Plays Duke Ellington”, will include musicians from the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association jazz ensemble, according to the announcement.
The concert will also feature guest vocalist Rachel Ambaye, a South Burlington native studying with Moran at Berklee College of Music. Ambaye will join the student ensemble for a collaboration tied to one of the festival’s signature performances.
Flynn Executive Director Jay Wahl said in the announcement that bringing student musicians into the center of the festival highlights jazz as a living tradition shared across generations.
This story was created by Dave DeMille, ddemille@gannett.com, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Republican Gov. Phil Scott filed Thursday to seek a sixth term in office while the heads of both legislative chambers announced they will not run for reelection.
Thursday marked the deadline for candidates to get on the ballot for the August primary elections. For months, it has been unclear if Scott would run again.
“I don’t want to see anything move backwards; we need to keep pushing ahead,” Scott said.
Scott filed the necessary 500 signatures on Thursday. If he serves a sixth term, he would be the longest-serving consecutive governor in state history.
“It’s not easy work, it weighs on you, but at the end of the day, I feel the responsibility to stick this out,” Scott said.
The governor has won by larger margins each cycle. Potential Democratic challengers have waited to see whether Scott might step aside, providing a chance not to run against a popular incumbent.
Those who political observers speculated might be interested in the governor’s race included Democratic Attorney General Charity Clark and Treasurer Mike Pieciak. Both instead decided to seek reelection.
Pieciak told reporters he has experienced several personal tragedies this year and wants to continue with his office’s work. “It’s really been a year of reflection, and I think I’m excited about continuing this job that I enjoy,” Pieciak said.
Scott will face an opponent in November. Democrats Aly Richards and Amanda Janoo will face off in the August primary.
Three other Democrats, Molly Gray, Ryan McLaren, and Esther Charlestin, will face off for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor and the chance to challenge incumbent Republican John Rodgers in November.
House Speaker Jill Krowinski received a standing ovation from House lawmakers as she announced she will not seek reelection, joining Senate President Phil Baruth.
“The next group of leaders will do a great job continuing on with this work. I wouldn’t be leaving if I didn’t think that we had the right people in places to do this work,” Krowinski said.
That means there will be fresh leadership in the House and Senate next legislative session.
And there is competition in the race for Congress. Republicans Gerald Malloy and Mark Coester will face off in the GOP primary to determine who will face Congresswoman Becca Balint in November.
“To deliver results for Vermont. They are tired of the constant complaining and angry rhetoric,” Malloy said.
There are at least three dozen state House and Senate races that will see fresh faces as another large contingent of lawmakers steps back.
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Vermont’s Fish and Wildlife Board voted 11-1 last week to reject two controversial bids from hunters to establish a season for hunting black bears with bait.
The vote comes as state wildlife officials revisit Vermont’s bear regulations in light of what state scientists say is a growing bear population and a rise in bear-human conflict in recent years.
“I think everybody in this room tonight wants a similar outcome, which is a healthy population of black bears in Vermont,” said John Austin, who leads the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s wildlife division, speaking at the May 20 board meeting.
The first petition, filed by the Vermont Bowhunters Association, called for Vermont to establish a fall baiting season similar to those in Maine in New Hampshire.
A second petition filed by hunters Kevin Lawrence and Bert Saldi echoed that request and asked regulators to extend the regular bear season in the fall and allow hunters to get two bear tags instead of one.
Right now, Vermont has two bear seasons — one in the spring and one in the fall. Hunters can pursue bears with rifles, by archery or using hounds, though the latter has a separate season.
Baiting — setting out food with the intention of enticing an animal into a particular location — is not allowed for large game species like deer, bear and moose. However, the state does allow hunters to hunt coyotes with bait, and set traps with bait for furbearing species like beaver.
Black bears have made a remarkable recovery in Vermont since the 1970s, when Vermont Fish and Wildlife estimates there were fewer than 2,000 left in the state. Today, department scientists estimate there are between 7,500 and 9,500 bears in Vermont.
Howard Weiss-Tisman
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Vermont Public
Vermont’s Wildlife Management Plan says the state should aim for a population around 5,000 to avoid depleting the bears’ wild food stores.
Additionally, human-bear conflicts appear to be on the rise in Vermont and cost the Department of Fish and Wildlife roughly $1 million each year, staff say.
“We are, in effect, victims of our own success. It’s gone beyond what we ever imagined,” Austin said. “It’s a great thing, a huge opportunity, and at the same time, it has become a growing challenge.”
The Vermont Bowhunters Association’s petition says baiting bears could address these population concerns more efficiently than with conventional hunting.
“Baiting allows you to be selective,” said petitioner Kevin Lawrence, arguing it would be easier for hunters to ensure they aren’t shooting a sow with young cubs.
Lawrence further argued baiting would allow hunters to kill bears that have been habituated to humans in more urban areas, where conventional hunting would be challenging. He said the department could require hunters share GPS coordinates for where they’re baiting so the sites can be inspected by wardens.
But state bear biologist Jaclyn Comeau says the science doesn’t support baiting as an effective solution for managing the bear population.
She says human behaviors — namely, how people store their trash and food and where they live — are major drivers of the rise in bear-human conflicts Vermont has seen in recent years.
“The more opportunity they have to take advantage of those food sources, the more chance there is that it can start to change their behavior over time, and now they may be seeking out those foods, not just when their wild foods are scarce, but they’re seeking them out as a regular part of their foraging strategy,” she said.
Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife
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Courtesy
Roughly 100 people and at least eight environmental organizations, including some town conservation committees, filed public comments urging the department to reject bear baiting.
Bear hunters themselves appeared to be divided over the issue.
Speaking at the April 22 Fish and Wildlife Board meeting, bear hunter Butch Spear of Newbury, a former president of the Vermont Bearhound Association, urged the board to keep baiting illegal.
“It’s against the law to shoot a deer over bait,” he said. “Why do you want to make it legal to shoot a bear over bait?”
“It’s against the law to shoot a deer over bait. Why do you want to make it legal to shoot a bear over bait?”
Butch Spear of Newbury
Other hunters worried baiting would tarnish their reputation among non-hunters.
Linda Capucardo of Sheffield was one of several people who voiced concern about the ethics of baiting bears.
“We’ve spent tons of time in Vermont telling people to secure bird feeders, to secure their waste, to secure everything, so that we don’t habituate bears to human food sources,” she said. “And now we’re going to give them a human food source? That’s just inviting disaster.”
Many speakers questioned the narrative that Vermont has too many bears or will for long.
Black bears are heavily dependent on beech nuts for food, and their abundance is threatened by beech leaf disease and beech bark disease. Both are growing threats to Vermont’s forests.
After rejecting the bear baiting proposals, the board voted unanimously to advance Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife’s recommendation that the state allow hunters to purchase two bear tags each year, and to extend the fall bear hunting season into December, through deer muzzleloader season.
The board is expected to discuss other aspects of the bear regulations at its June meeting, including a potential ban on killing sows with cubs in sight and changes to the rules governing hunting bears with hounds.
Lawmakers will next get to review the proposed updates to the bear rule to make sure they comply with state law, at which point there will be further opportunities for public comment.
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