Reports and records on invasive species in Vermont

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Vermont public records law (1 V.S.A. §§ 315-320), I hereby request the following records:

Any reports and records documenting the growth of invasive species, more specifically the Asian longhorned beetle, wood wasps, the emerald ash borer, and any other problem insects

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Jasper Craven

Dear Mr. Craven:

Your requests for public records were forwarded to me for response. I am aware of two separate and distinct requests for public records which you filed via email.

The first request is reproduced below (email to Tracy Zeno) and seeks "Any documents detailing the number of acres affected by invasive species in Vermont parks as well as any programs the state has implemented to battle invasive species."

The second request is also reproduced below and seeks "Any reports and records documenting the growth of invasive specifies, more specifically the Asian longhorned beetle, wood wasps, the emerald ash borer, and any other problem insects."

In both requests, you asked that any fees associated with responding to the request be waived. You also indicated that you would like a response within 5 days pursuant to statute.

Both of your requests are overly broad and would require searching for, collecting and examining a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records located in various department offices around the state. For these reasons I request the following:

1) Would you please clarify your two requests and narrow the requests to those records that you truly seek. For example, regarding the first request, do you want documents related to all invasive species in all Vermont parks? Could you specify which invasive species you are interested in? Plants or insects? What types of plants or insects? What types of records are you seeking? Reports and data, educational information, or staff communications? Please provide as much specificity as possible to enable the Department to provide you the information you seek.

2) Due to the potentially very large volume of records which are located in multiple state district offices across the state, I respectfully request that you waive the statutory time period for responding to requests for public records set forth in 1 V.S.A. 318. Should you refuse to waive the time requirements, I would request that the time limits be extended pursuant to 1 V.S.A. 318(5)(A) and (B) for the maximum time of 10 business days. I would note that this time period does not commence until your request is clarified.

3) Once your request is clarified we will attempt to provide an estimate of the fees associated with responding to your request. Due to the broad scope of this request we will not agree to waive any fees authorized by the Secretary of State and by statute.

Meghan Purvee
General Counsel
Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation

FIRST REQUEST:
SECOND REQUEST:

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Vermont public records law (1 V.S.A. 315-320), I hereby request the following records:

Any reports and records documenting the growth of invasive species, more specifically the Asian longhorned beetle, wood wasps, the emerald ash borer, and any other problem insects.

I also request that , if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Jasper Craven

Ms. Purvee,

I apologize for the broadness of the requests. I hope these clarifications narrow things substantially.

I would just like documents detailing all invasive species activity in Green Mountain National Forest, no other parks. If it is too broad to request both plants and insects in the forest, please just give me information on invasive insects in the national forest. I would like reports and data that give a sense of how many invasive species are in the forest currently, nothing else.

I can waive the time rules, definitely, but would hope a fee waiver could still be considered.
Please let me know if you have any other questions. My phone number: 802-274-0365.

Thanks,

Jasper