HELP STOP BUDGET CUTS TO HOUSING AND CONSERVATION!

Please speak up for the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, which is threatened with a draconian 70% funding cut! This essential program helps hundreds of our farms stay in business, provides thousands of Vermonters get and keep decent housing and conserves thousands of acres of land.

If you know the value of affordable housing, farms, or land conservation in our state, your voice can make a difference.

If...
- you or someone you know have struggled to find a home you can afford
- you're an employer who sees how housing costs hurt your staff
- you value Vermont's working landscapes, open spaces and commitment to agriculture and locally grown food.

... you can help by coming to Montpelier on February 26 (we can arrange for transportation), contacting your legislators, or writing Letters to the Editor. Free advocacy training is available next Wed., Feb. 18, 6:30 to 8 p.m.

To sign up or for more information, contact Julia Curry at Champlain Housing Trust, 861-7378 or julia@champlainhousingtrust.org.

CONSERVATION CAN'T WAIT

"That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics." - Aldo Leopold, 1948

Note: The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board was last fully funded in 1987!

GREEN MOUNTAIN DAILY:- Here we go again... last week the Governor proposed a budget eliminating permanently affordable housing development efforts and completely eliminating conservation investments that boost our working land economy.

The Governor proposes a 70% reduction to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Budget on top of a series of cuts over the past seven years that had already meant a more than $30 million loss.

Let's not kid ourselves. This is a direct attack on the programs that house Vermont's workforce, provide the means to save family farms, protect recreation and sensitive natural areas and stimulate the economy.

The governor warned against the drastic wholesale elimination of programs and then proceeded to do just that. He said that it was obvious that we should eliminate our conservation program during difficult economic times.

Every day it seems we are hearing about additional losses of good jobs for Vermonters. In these times we need to look what helps Vermont's economy grow!