[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15227-15228]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 VERMONT HOUSING AND CONSERVATION BOARD

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it is my pleasure today to bring to the 
attention of the Senate the important work the members and staff of the 
Vermont Housing and Conservation Board have accomplished during their 
first 20 years of service to protect Vermont's working landscape and to 
help ensure that Vermonters have safe and affordable places to call 
home.
  Since 1987, VHCB, its board members and staff have invested in 427 
farms, resulting in the conservation of 118,500 acres of farmland; 
protected 250,000 acres of recreational and natural areas; and 
constructed or rehabilitated 8500 units of affordable housing. This has 
been a conscious investment of $200 million in our Green Mountains, 
leveraging an additional $750 million from public and private sources. 
Few organizations can boast the stimulus of $1 billion in two short 
decades.
  For centuries, Vermonters have made their livings working the land. 
As land use patterns drastically change across the country, including 
in the valleys of Vermont, VHCB has helped many farmers and communities 
conserve the rural working landscape that has come to define Vermont 
and the way of life in our State's communities. VHCB has become a 
national leader in farmland protection practices--educating family 
farmers how they can make money protecting working farmland and rural 
landscape for generations to come. The protections VHCB has been able 
to offer Vermont's farmers have resulted in hundreds of farms remaining 
active and contributing members of their communities, allowing them to 
remain Vermont's ultimate environmental stewards. VHCB's expertise also 
allowed me to work with them to implement a farm preservation pilot 
program in Vermont that has since become known as the Farm and Ranch 
Land Protection Program, a national farmland protection program. Today, 
this program has protected nearly a half million acres of farmland in 
42 States nationwide.
  For centuries, the very same farmers who have lived off the land have 
become well known for their love of fishing, hunting, hiking and 
snowmobiling across Vermont's forests and open spaces. With encroaching 
urban sprawl and changing demographics, these lands, too, have been 
dwindling. VHCB has made it a priority to preserve these natural lands 
and access to these lands, conserving a quarter of a million acres of 
these green spaces.

[[Page 15228]]

  As a dual mission organization, VHCB has also led the country in 
developing and administering steady private, State and Federal funding 
sources for the preservation, development and rehabilitation of quality 
affordable housing in all corners of Vermont. These homes, like the 
great pieces of granite my grandfather once cut out of the 
mountainsides of Vermont, are the foundations for the future of 
Vermont. Additionally, many of these homes are designated perpetually 
affordable, ensuring that generations of Vermonters will have places to 
call home. Recently the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 
Development named Vermont's federally funded HOME program, administered 
by VHCB, as the most effective program among 51 participating 
jurisdictions in the country for the fourth quarter in a row.
  Like so many Vermonters, I live in a rather old house in the Green 
Mountains. At least half of Vermont's housing stock is estimated to be 
more than 50 years old, and many are more than a century old. With this 
Yankee character comes a great danger that VHCB has identified and 
tackled with great skill: lead poisoning. The most common cause of lead 
poisoning is exposure to dust from deteriorated lead-based paint in a 
child's home or daycare. The Vermont Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction 
Program, administered by VHCB, has provided technical and financial 
assistance to eligible landlords and homeowners to reduce the risk of 
lead poisoning in Vermont's buildings and homes.
  Since the very beginning, my good friend Gus Seelig has steered this 
organization through both calm and stormy weather. Like any good 
leader, I am certain that Gus would say this organization owes a great 
deal of its success to its many past and present board members and 
staff. On behalf of the people of Vermont, I thank and applaud everyone 
who has worked to make the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board a 
success. Congratulations on 20 great years preserving the character and 
affordability of Vermont.

                          ____________________