These natural assets remain remarkably intact, but they are threatened. Other productive, recreational, and scenic lands are being lost irrevocably to careless or unplanned growth. Continuation of these trends will extinguish future choices for Vermont, including participation in new forms of agriculture and tourism. The heritage of our landscape and communities is essential to our state's economy and well-being. To a large extent our economic choices will determine the future relationship between nature and the human community.
Economic growth can take Vermonters in many directions.
This path encourages farming, forestry, and wilderness and reflects Vermont's traditional values. In 1977 a group of citizens in the Woodstock region, who were concerned about the loss of open space to development, formed the Ottauquechee Regional Land Trust. These founders were motivated by the fear that, despite Act 250 and local zoning and subdivision regulations, productive farm and forest land was continuing to be fragmented and converted to other uses. The Land Trust, which used voluntary conservation agreements with landowners, was seen as one way of trying to preserve the rural character of the region. ORLT initially established its area of operation as the watershed of the Ottauquechee River.