Vermont recently passed the Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act, which sets a goal to conserve 30% of Vermont’s land area by 2030 and 50% of its land area by 2050, which goes beyond President Biden’s 30x30 plan, the Vermont Public news site reported. Critics, including American Stewards of Liberty, say the law is governmental overreach.

“The vision of the State of Vermont is to maintain an ecologically functional landscape that sustains biodiversity, maintains landscape connectivity, supports watershed health, promotes climate resilience, supports working farms and forests, provides opportunities for recreation and appreciation of the natural world, and supports the historic settlement pattern of compact villages surrounded by rural lands and natural areas,” the text of the Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act says. “It is the goal of the state that 30 percent of Vermont’s total land area shall be conserved by 2030, and 50 percent of the state’s total land area shall be conserved by 2050."

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a similar bill last year, but this year he allowed it to become law without his signature, Vermont Public reported. Scott said this year’s bill has better measures in place to protect Vermont’s need for housing. It is unclear how much of Vermont’s currently conserved land would count towards the 30% goal; the law also leaves the meaning of the word “conservation” up to open interpretation, the news site said.

Phil Scott, governor of Vermont | Master Sgt. Sarah Mattison, U.S. Air National Guard, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=96088411

A plan to implement these conservation goals is due by Dec. 1, 2025. The law took effect on July 1, the bill text says.

"There is no mention by anyone about protecting the private property rights of the citizens whose land will be taken, making private landowners in Vermont high-value targets of the program," the American Stewards of Liberty, a nonprofit organization dedicated to property rights, said. "Apparently, the American taxpayer is expected to fund their 'confiscation by conservation' program. Welcome to the new socialist state of Vermont."