Department Of Forests Parks & Recreation Vermont

The Department of Forests Parks & Recreation Vermont, a state government entity and child agency of the State of Vermont, operates as a prime recipient of federal forest management, wildfire preparedness, and outdoor recreation grants, primarily from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the Department of the Interior National Park Service. The department does not compete for federal contracts and maintains no prime contract awards; its federal footprint is entirely grant-based, with 97 percent of its 184 recent awards held as prime grants and three percent as sub-awards from other state agencies.

The department's grant portfolio centers on five concrete capability areas anchored to its stewardship mandate. Forest health protection and invasive species management comprise the largest share of activity, including $1 million in Forest Health Protection funding (CFDA 10.680) for regional ecosystem monitoring cooperative operations across seven northeastern states, $973,470 in monitoring and invasive species detection across Vermont and New England, and multiple invasive pest survey and suppression initiatives addressing hemlock woolly adelgid and elm zigzag sawfly. Forest stewardship and land acquisition account for the second-largest revenue stream, with $3.01 million awarded by the Forest Service under the Forest Legacy Program (CFDA 10.676) for the Hazen S Notch conservation project (1,959 acres across Franklin, Lamoille, and Washington Counties), multiple Inflation Reduction Act Forest Legacy Program acquisitions including Elmore Mountain ($1,506,666.67), Roxbury State Forest expansion ($660,000), and smaller projects including Blueberry Hill ($273,333.33), Salt Ash Flats ($380,000), and Moose River ($410,000). Wildfire preparedness and state fire capacity grants account for roughly $3.7 million across multiple USDA awards supporting firefighter training, equipment procurement, prescribed fire and mechanical fuels treatment, and volunteer fire department assistance to rural communities under population 10,000. Outdoor recreation facility development drew $6.6 million from the National Park Service's Outdoor Recreation Acquisition, Development and Planning program (CFDA 15.916) through the Land and Water Conservation Fund for state park improvements at Grand Isle, Button Bay, Maidstone, Ascutney, Kettle Pond, L.R. Jones State Forest, and multiple smaller park projects. Wood utilization and renewable energy initiatives received $619,483 under the Wood Utilization Assistance program (CFDA 10.674) for advanced wood heating system repairs and educational programming in Vermont schools and municipal buildings, plus a $500,000 temporary bridge rental program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Temporary Bridge Program (CFDA 10.721) to provide portable skidder bridges and bridge mats to timber harvesting contractors.

Customer concentration is extreme: the Department of Agriculture Forest Service, split across Region 9-Eastern Region (78 awards) and national-level Forest Service programs (57 awards), accounts for 135 of 184 awards (73 percent) and dominates the combined obligated dollars. The Department of the Interior National Park Service National Office holds 26 awards for outdoor recreation facility grants. Five customer agencies account for 96 percent of awards. The Forest Service's Eastern Region (Region 9) drives the recompete pipeline: 21 awards complete in the next twenty-four months, representing sustained demand for forest health monitoring, wildfire capacity, and stewardship grants.

The department's vehicle footprint is thin because grant awards do not route through GWACs or IDIQs; federal grant programs operate on direct-award protocols. The primary grantor programs are Forest Health Protection (CFDA 10.680), Cooperative Forestry Assistance (CFDA 10.664), Forest Legacy Program (CFDA 10.676), Wood Utilization Assistance (CFDA 10.674), State & Private Forestry Cooperative Fire Assistance (CFDA 10.698), and outdoor recreation development under CFDA 15.916. Recent Inflation Reduction Act appropriations introduced new vehicles including the Inflation Reduction Act Forest Legacy Program (CFDA 10.734) and the Inflation Reduction Act Landscape Scale Restoration program (CFDA 10.731).

Sub-award activity is minimal: the department acts as sub-recipient to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation on a recreational road use impacts study and to the Vermont Department of Public Safety on multiple wildfire and forest health initiatives totaling approximately $1.2 million in sub-award obligations across 2022–2026. Conversely, the department makes sub-awards to the University of Vermont for forest ecosystem monitoring cooperative operations and to local municipalities and towns (Poultney, Manchester, Burlington, and others) for outdoor recreation facility implementation.

Activity has accelerated: seven awards in 2022 to 35 in 2025, driven by Inflation Reduction Act forest conservation and landscape restoration funding. The $5 million Growing Vermont's Forest Resilience Cooperative Agreement (CFDA 10.731) awarded in September 2024 and the $500,000 landscape-scale restoration capacity grant (September 2024) reflect the department's expanded role in climate adaptation, carbon offset program coordination, and environmental market engagement for private forest landowners. Most grant completions cluster at fiscal year-end (September 30) and calendar year-end (December 31), with substantial work through 2029 and 2030.