Conservation Commission

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“You don’t own the land. The land has come from forever and is going to forever. The house that I own was built over two hundred years ago, and with a little luck will be here well over two hundred years from now. So I’m living in it but I don’t consider it to be precisely mine. I’m simply living there. There’s a certain degree of stewardship in most things.” Howard Mansfield, The Same Ax, Twice

We want to hear from you!

Email us with questions, comments and feedback: conservation@thetfordvt.gov

Follow us on Instagram (@thetfordvtconservation) and Facebook!

Commission Members: Click on highlighted names to email.

Calah Beckwith (term expires 2029)
Susannah "Susie" Howard (term expires 2029) 802-431-5827
Janet Dowell, Co-Chair (term expires 2027)
Donn Downey (term expires 2027)
Tom Ebert (term expires 2027)
Krista Karlson, Co-Chair (term expires 2028)
Matt Parno (term expires 2030)
1 Vacancy

Commission Meetings:

The Conservation Commission meets on the second Wednesday of each month, at 7:00PM at the Town Hall.

Thetford’s Natural Resources: Interactive Map

Over the course of several years, the Conservation Commission conducted a Natural Resources Inventory to document our town’s natural resources like forest blocks, wildlife crossings, wetlands, and more.

This map includes two levels of data:

Publicly available data from the state of Vermont on landscape-scale features like forest blocks and currently conserved lands
Ground-truthed data on more detailed features like wildlife crossings and vernal pools

The purpose of this map is twofold:

A tool for Thetford residents to learn about and explore the interesting natural features in town
A tool for town officials and committees to consult for informed decision-making

We hope you enjoy exploring the map, and we’re always open to feedback on ways to improve it. You can reach us at conservation@thetfordvt.gov.

How to use the map

On the top right corner of the navigation, choose what kind of base map you’d like to see: world streets, aerial imagery, or terrain.
Click the “+” icon next to the category of data you’re interested in.
Within each category, you’ll find multiple layers of data. To display a layer on the map, click the checkbox for that layer.
To learn more about the data source for each layer, click the “i” icon.

Thetford Hill/Union Village Dam Resource Inventory

Thetford Hill and the Union Village Dam area are widely cherished in our community for their ecological and recreational resources. In this spirit, the Thetford Trails Team recently commissioned a comprehensive resource inventory of this 2,700-acre area, which makes recommendations on how to balance the use of these resources with the interests of landowners and a wide range of trail users.

Executive Summary here

Gardening with Native Plants

In 2022, the Conservation Commission hosted a series of hands-on wildlife and pollinator gardening workshops that explored how to create and maintain a garden that is fun, beautiful, and full of life.

This series provided a primer on native pollinator gardening and demonstrated resources that you can use for your own garden, like choosing the most beneficial plants to support pollinator species and mapping out the bloom times of your plants to ensure that your garden is blooming throughout the whole season.

Additionally, we created a community pollinator garden adjacent to the Thetford Community Garden.

Resources

Audio recording of 3/14/22 workshop: Introduction to pollinator gardening
Chat from 3/14/22 session
Audio recording of 4/11/22 workshop: How to plan your garden
Slides from 4/11/22 workshop: How to plan your garden
Chat from 4/11/22 session
Gardening resources
Bloom time spreadsheet
Several books (for adults and children) about gardening with native plants are available at the Latham Library.

Thetford is now in the 10-Mile Infested Area of Confirmed Detection of Emerald Ash Borer. For information from the State, please click here.

What Does the Conservation Commission Do?

Our commission is interested in many issues and to better inform our neighbors of our purpose we would like to list some of the most significant and long-lasting work we are or would like to be involved in.

Promoting the establishment of local conservation funds for land conservation work.
Being stewards of municipal lands.
Maintaining an inventory of the Town’s natural resources to identify top conservation priorities.
Promoting the local economy of the working landscape.
Encouraging a land ethic and respect for all living things with whom we share our communities.
Creating opportunities for townspeople to recreate and celebrate living more closely with the land.
Participating in local planning, zoning, and development review.
Working to prevent or stop polluting activities.
Sponsoring educational opportunities through hosting guest speakers, leading outdoor activities to highlight flora and fauna, and helping students to foster an interest in the outdoors.

We encourage any Thetford resident who would like to work on these types of projects to contact us or attend our monthly meetings on the second Wednesday of each month, at 7:00PM at the Town Hall.