The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 12 : Court Procedure

Chapter 196 : Vermont Right to Conduct Forestry Operations

• § 5756. Definitions

  As used in this chapter:

  (1) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Forests, Parks and Recreation.

  (2) “Conventional forestry practices” means:

  (A) forestry operations;

  (B) a change in ownership or size of a parcel on which a forestry operation is being conducted;

  (C) cessation or interruption of a forestry operation or a change in a forestry operation, including a change in the type of a forestry operation;

  (D) enrollment in governmental forestry or conservation programs;

  (E) adoption of new forestry technology;

  (F) construction, maintenance, and repair of log landings, logging roads, and skid trails;

  (G) visual changes due to the removal, storage, or stockpiling of vegetation or forest products;

  (H) noise from forestry equipment used as part of a forestry operation; or

  (I) the transport or trucking of forest products or of equipment on, to, or from the site of a forestry operation.

  (3) “Forest product” means logs; pulpwood; veneer; bolt wood; wood chips; stud wood; poles; pilings; biomass; fuel wood; maple sap; or bark.

  (4) “Forestry operation” means activities related to the management of forests, including timber harvests; removal, storage, or stockpiling of vegetation or timber; pruning; planting; lumber processing with portable sawmills; reforestation; pest, disease, and invasive species control; wildlife habitat management; and fertilization. “Forestry operation” includes one or both of the following:

  (A) the primary processing of forest products on a parcel where a timber harvest occurs; and

  (B) the primary processing of forest products at a site that is not the harvest site, provided that:

  (i) the person conducting the forestry operations owns or has permission to use the site for the forestry operation;

  (ii) the forestry operation was established prior to surrounding activities that are not forestry operations;

  (iii) the site is used by the forestry operation for 12 or fewer months in any two-year period or 24 or fewer months in any five-year period;

  (iv) the forestry operation complies with all applicable law; and

  (v) only portable, nonpermanent equipment is used to process the forest products at the site.

  (5) “Timber” means trees, saplings, seedlings, and sprouts from which trees of every size, nature, kind, and description may grow.

  (6) “Timber harvest” means a forestry operation involving the harvesting of timber. (Added 2017, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 30, 2018.)