Patrick Leahy: “75 years ago today, President Herbert Hoover signed a proclamation officially establishing the Green Mountain National…”

“75 years ago today, President Herbert Hoover signed a proclamation officially establishing the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. This was the result of significant effort on the part of the State of Vermont and several of the State's leading conservationists and legislators of the time. While a number of Vermonters had proposed a national forest in the State just after the turn of the 20th century, it took a sustained effort over the next three decades for this vision to become a reality. In 1925, the Vermont General Assembly passed the enabling act to allow the Forest Service to purchase land in Vermont. Many would argue just 2 years later that the devastating impact of the 1927 flood showed the need for sound forest management practices in the Green Mountains. It was fitting that the initial land purchases for the southern half of Vermont's national forest were from the estate of Marshall J. Hapgood, who, years earlier, had advocated for a National Forest in the Green Mountains.”