The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) is hosting its 2022 Municipal Day on Friday, October 28. Find the agenda, workshop descriptions, and a printable brochure to share with your colleagues on ANR’s Municipal Day web page.
Space is limited. Register online.
More Workshops Added!
Plenary Session with the State Office of Racial Equity – Education and Outreach, Shalini Suryanarayana.
IDEAL Vermont Initiative
Initiative Overview: What is the IDEAL Vermont?
“IDEAL” stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Action, Leadership. IDEAL Vermont is a coalition of Vermont municipalities dedicated to advancing racial and other forms of equity across the state through shared learning and tangible action.
Vermont’s communities become more diverse every day. As part of this growth, municipalities around the state and the country are recognizing the need to prioritize equity and social justice. Already, dozens of Vermont’s communities have taken steps to be more inclusive. IDEAL Vermont was created to bridge the efforts of individual towns and counties across the state to build cohesion, motivation, and success. Guided by a multi-disciplinary team of state agencies, IDEAL Vermont helps local leaders advance equity in their communities through workshops, technical assistance, grant opportunities, and facilitated spaces to share with and learn from peers around the state.
Environmental Justice and You
In this workshop participants will familiarize themselves with key concepts in and tenets of environmental justice, and ANR’s goals as an active participant in the advancement of this work in Vermont. The discussion will include an overview of the newly enacted State of Vermont environmental justice legislation, Act 154, with context provided for the work of the Agency. Time will be provided for a conversation and answering questions for participants interested in how this might apply to your day-to-day work. The Environmental Justice workshop will be offered twice, once in the morning and again in the afternoon.
Developing a Municipal Climate Toolkit
Are there issues related to climate change in your community that you would like to tackle, but do not have the resources or tools to do so? Join this session to learn about the development of a Municipal Climate Toolkit, an online hub of existing State programs, datasets, planning guides, tools, and technical assistance providers that will connect the day-to-day work of municipal staff and volunteers to climate change. Through a partnership with the Vermont Climate Council, the Agency of Natural Resources is designing and developing a Municipal Climate Toolkit that will connect municipalities with climate action resources across the areas of transportation, energy, natural and water resources, farms and food, and more. Share your thoughts and ideas about what would be helpful to see in a toolkit as you take steps to tackle climate change in your community
Wetland Identification, Permitting, and Allowed Use
Wetlands play a vital role in maintaining Vermont’s water quality, mitigating flood damage, and providing habitat for a wide variety of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife and plant species. These unique ecosystems come in many shapes and sizes and not all of them are immediately identifiable – we can all generally recognize a cattail marsh or deepwater swamp but it gets difficult when we start dealing with farmed or mowed wetlands, situations where the landscape has been altered, or wetland mosaics. This presentation will offer some tricks to identifying wetlands, including an intro to conducting a desktop review using the Natural Resource Atlas, followed by guidance on what activities are or are not allowed uses and a discussion of when permitting is required. An understanding of the Vermont Wetland Rules by town zoning administrators and review boards (and others!) can go a long way towards protecting Vermont’s ecological health and character as well as insulating towns and individuals from potentially costly restoration measures resulting from noncompliance with the VWR.
More About the 9th Annual Municipal Day
The Agency of Natural Resources’ ninth annual Municipal Day will take place on October 28, 2022. Municipal Day is an opportunity to inform and empower Vermont’s local officials and volunteers through workshops presented by state officials. From planning and zoning officials to town managers and selectboard members, participants will learn the most up-to-date information to apply in their daily work and the tools available to help their communities. While trainings are specifically tailored to municipal officials, any community member who wants to learn more about ANR’s work is invited to participate.
“This year’s Municipal Day will offer local officials insights in how state agencies are spending infrastructure funding, how to access state services to make their communities stronger and more resilient, and access to people eager to help. It’s a great one-stop shop for any community leader who wants to get to work,” said Vermont League of Cities & Towns Executive Director Ted Brady.
Workshop topics include federal funding opportunities, land use planning, environmental justice, navigating Act 250, noxious weed management, and much more. Workshops also provide useful information on current issues and the resources that are in place to help.
The full-day session costs $30, including morning coffee with pastries, lunch, and a welcome bag including complimentary State Park passes. Find the agenda, workshop descriptions, and a printable brochure to share with your colleagues on ANR’s Municipal Day web page.
Space is limited. Register online starting Thursday, September 15, 2022.
Municipal Day is sponsored by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources in collaboration with Vermont Emergency Management, the Natural Resources Board, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, and the Agency of Agriculture Food, and Markets.
