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Ethan Tapper ’12 is the Chittenden County Forester in the State of Vermont’s (FPR). After graduating with a forestry degree from �պ����� , Ethan worked as a consulting forester with Fountains Forestry of Montpelier, Vermont. In June 2016, he became the County Forester in Vermont’s most populated county. 

Ethan, who grew up in Saxtons River, Vermont, is one of a small legacy of �պ����� Forestry alumni who have served as Chittenden County Forester. Former County Foresters Keith Thompson ’04 went on to become the Private Lands Program Manager for FPR and Michael Snyder ’85 ’90 now leads the department as Commissioner of Forests, Parks and Recreation.  

Vermont’s County Forester program dates back to the 1940s. With about 76% of the state forested and approximately 80% of those acres privately-owned, the role of the county foresters is to support private forestland owners and encourage responsible forest management. 

“For me, the big picture is improving the quality of forest management in Chittenden County,” says Ethan. 

He helps to administer Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal, or “Current Use,” program, which provides tax abatement to owners of more than 25 acres of forested land. Landowners agree to keep their land undeveloped and to manage their forests in accordance with a detailed management plan. 

“The program helps landowners make the right management decisions and provides a tax benefit to keep the land forested,” says Ethan, who approves forest management plans developed by consulting foresters for each Chittenden County parcel in the program and monitors enrolled properties for compliance. 

Ethan acts as a general resource on forest stewardship. He walks in the woods with landowners of forested parcels of all sizes to assist them in understanding and managing their forests for a variety of uses. He also helps to write and implement forest management plans for the County’s town and community forests, where he conducts demonstration timber harvests and provides regular educational opportunities for the public. 

“We try to sustainably manage our forests for timber, wildlife, recreation, carbon sequestration, clean water, and other ecosystem services — an approach that might be different from the perceptions that people have of forestry and logging practices,” says Ethan. “I am hoping to build a culture of understanding of what today’s sustainable forest management is all about.” 

He sees his county forester role as part educator. Ethan informs communities and landowners about the ecological workings of the forest and what responsible management can do to keep them healthy and productive. Through local newspaper articles, public educational walks and demonstration tours, and one-on-one visits with landowners, Ethan reaches local communities and Vermonters interested in stewarding forestland for today and for future generations. 

He writes a monthly column, called “,” on forest ecology and management that is published in ten community newspapers across the county. His columns provide insight on topics ranging from regenerating red oak to dealing with problematic invasive exotic plants to managing for forest resilience in the face of extreme weather events and climate change. 

Throughout the summer, winter, and early spring of 2018 and 2019, Ethan has led public tours of active timber sales that he supervises at the Preston Pond Conservation Area in West Bolton and at the Hinesburg Town Forest. For these properties, Ethan worked with communities to draft the forest management plans, which were designed to improve forest health, encourage growth of high-quality trees, enhance wildlife habitat, encourage a more diverse forest, and demonstrate responsible forest management to the public. 

“My hope is that we can all unite around the idea that local, renewable resources are worth producing, that our forests are worth protecting, and that these two ideas are not contradictory,” wrote Ethan in his . 

Visit Vermont’s forest information hub, , to watch for future walks in the woods with Ethan. 

Ethan stays connected with the Rubenstein School and gets students working in the woods by actively involving them in timber marking and forest inventory on community woodlands. He partners with instructors during field labs in courses on small woodland management, natural resource ecology and assessment, community forestry, and silviculture. He also regularly mentors groups of students conducting their senior capstone projects in the School's environmental problem solving and impact assessment course. 

“I like to engage students, much like landowners, with hands-on activities in the woods,” says Ethan who recalls being inspired by former Rubenstein School Lecturer John Shane in courses on dendrology and forest ecology. 

“We have been fortunate to partner with Ethan the past several years on service-learning projects around developing forest inventory plans for several town forests in Chittenden County,” says Tony D’Amato, Professor and Director of the School’s Forestry Program. “In addition to the hands-on experiences afforded by these projects, they have been particularly valuable to our students by exposing them to Ethan’s approach to forest stewardship and his tremendous abilities to communicate with a wide audience about forestry and forest ecology. We are fortunate to have him as a local resource for our students and a source of inspiration for where their �պ����� forestry degree might take them some day.” 

Other current Vermont County Foresters who graduated from the Rubenstein School include Jared Nunery ’04 ’09 (Orleans County), Chris Olson ’85 (Addison County), Nancy Patch ’85 (Franklin and Grand Isle Counties), and Dan Singleton ’03 (Washington County).