Economic Benefits

Open Land Saves Tax Payers Millions of Dollars

The Trust for Public Land conducted an economic analysis of the return on the State of Vermont’s investment in land conservation and found that every state dollar invested in land conservation returned $9 in natural goods and services. This study was conducted in collaboration with the Vermont Forest Partnership, a coalition that includes Audubon Vermont, The Nature Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, Vermont Land Trust, and Vermont Natural Resources Council.

“Vermont’s economy is rooted in the conservation of land. Working forests and fields, preserved parks and wild streams, flood plains and wetlands, and fish and wildlife habitat are the historical foundations of our economy.”
-Joe Roman and Jon Erickson, Economics of Conservation in Vermont Final Report, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources University of Vermont, June 2015

Clean Water

Open lands save taxes by providing free water and air filtration services. Open lands filter pollutants, herbicides, pesticides and other contaminants from our water. With their deep, dense root systems, grasslands trap precipitation so water can percolate down into the soil, where it can be cleaned and filtered. Trees improve air quality by reducing outdoor temperatures resulting in less energy used to cool our homes. Trees and other flora also absorb odors and pollutant gases (nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and ozone) and filter particulates out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark.
Flood and Erosion Protection

Open lands save taxes by providing natural stormwater drainage areas, preventing flooding and controlling erosion, thereby protecting existing infrastructure. One-acre of wetland can typically store about 1 million gallons of water. A recent study by The Trust For Public Land found that Vermont’s wetlands provide an estimated $590 per acre annually in flood protection and wildlife habitat, more than three times as much as the next land cover type: deciduous forests. Research in Middlebury found that wetlands upstream from the town provided at least $126,000 per year in flood protection services.
Carbon Sequestration

Open lands, soils and forests absorb carbon and help mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. An acre of 50-year-old forest can sequester around 13 metric tons. The federal government presently estimates that one ton of carbon emissions costs society $51. The International Panel on Climate Change concludes that restoring and protecting the world's soil could alone absorb more than five billion tons of carbon dioxide each year.