Sale of Town Municipal Forest Sparks Debate

The crowd looks forward to a lively debate. (Photo courtesy of Victoria Loyer.)

While several other sections of the agenda took up decent chunks of time, by far the most controversial and long-discussed piece was Article 11, the sale of Bradford's Municipal Forest to the Trust for Public Land. The entire meeting had been a practice in compromise between tradition and harsh reality, but this issue proved difficult for citizens to come to terms with.

 An official started off by saying that the deal was a win/win for all towns involved, especially when it came to Bradford. In the past around four million dollars, three of which came from grants and one from loans, was present for work on Bradford's old and leaky water system. That money is no longer there to be used, so the money that would be gained from the sale- around $850,000- could be put to very good use in enhancing and repairing the town's water system.

The questions posed by some town citizens helped clarify the issue, while others proved to muddy the waters. One woman asked whether or not that money would go to improving or expanding the town's existing water system. The answer was that, due to the fact that there wasn't enough money to do both tasks, the focus would be on replacing and fixing urgent problems in the existing system and working on a new water storage reservoir. The already-existing pipes had been in place since 1900, and there is a major issue with pressure throughout town not being equal. One official said that there was "60% leakage somewhere in the system area due to all those old pipes." This statement, and other complaints for citizens, made it clear that the town's water system is in need of repair.

Despite that fact, there was still a strong debate over the sale of the land. Primary among the concerns was the fact that the land currently serves as a watershed for Bradford's water source, which prompted the proposal of an amendment to keep water rights to the land. The current reservoir is right next to the interstate, and many citizens consider it to be at risk from contamination (i.e. it could be polluted if a crashed tanker spilled chemicals on the highway, etc), which makes the Municipal Forest valuable if it could be used as a water source.

 An official from the Water and Sewer Commission attempted to put some of this debate to rest by discussing a hydrogeological study done within the past few years. The results showed that the Bradford Municipal Forest, while it had a great deal of streams and surface water, did not have enough ground water to be a viable water source; and the existing aquifer, while right next to the interstate, was protected by a thick layer of clay in the ground. The Forest holds the potential to become one if all the pipes that lead to town and the old, abandoned reservoir (capable of holding 1 million gallons of water) already in place there were completely repaired. However, the cost to repair that infrastructure would greatly outweigh the amount of water that could be obtained from the land. Moreover, that water would have to be purified in a treatment facility to meet state standards to be used. The officials believe that the land is important as a watershed, but not a water source. In a word, it is impractical.

More debate arose from these facts. Some citizens still wanted to retain water rights to the land. Some compared that desire to the old adage "wanting to have their cake and eat it too," and there was also the issue that keeping those water rights would greatly reduce the price. Moreover, the town had already signed an agreement with the Trust for Public Land for the sale, pending on the approval of voters, and they would have to go back to the Vermont government and re-negotiate the contract. Eventually the amendment to the article was dropped, but discussion continued.

Voters cast in their ballot for a decision on the amendment. (Photo courtesy Victoria Loyer.)

Others protested the sale due to fear that the land would be developed and lose its function as a watershed, but the official from the Trust for Public Land  guaranteed that the land would be carefully preserved. The Trust's plan is to sell the forest to West Fairlee so it can be added to that town's preserved lands.

Another issue was logging rights to the land. One man's testimony on that subject was striking. He was the owner of a tract of land even larger than the Bradford Municipal Forest, and has been since 1953. Overall, the money he has made from the sale of wood from that land since that time hasn't equaled the $850,000 the town would get if they sold the land outright. In his opinion, the decision was an easy one.

Many didn't find it so easy. One Brian Seligamn, the owner of a pond near the old one-million gallon reservoir in the Forest, loudly advocated for the repair of the old pipes in and around the forest. He proposed an amendment to the article to allocate some of the money to that purpose. He saw the old reservoir as a viable, important water source for the town. There was a great deal of debate about this due to the fact that the water would have to be umpedup to it from Bradford. There was a great deal of discussion about this issue, which was further complicated by the fact that there were several locations and reservoirs being discussed.

In the end the motion was to let the selectboard and water board decide. Debate on the amendment to the article was closed and, after another few short issues, the bill was passed through as it had originally been proposed. It took over two hours and an incredible amount of debate for the town to decide to give up its Municipal forest, valuable in both a historical and monetary way, but the hard choice proved to be the best to allow the town to move on into its future.