Special Vermont Resistance edition

Lucy Welch, a hero for the moment.

I just put out a newsletter yesterday, and normally I wouldn’t bother you for days. But something happened in my home state this morning that I just plain wanted to tell you about. Readers will probably have picked up by now that I love Vermont, and also that I love winter. I’m a nordic skier, but all respect to those who chase gravity on the downhill slopes—and never more than now.

Here’s the story:

All the locals learned a couple of days ago that J.D. Vance was coming to ski at Sugarbush, one of Vermont’s big downhill mountains. Air Force 2 landed at Burlington just hours after the vice-president tried to humiliate Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky (and had his butt handed back to him by the brave leader of a brave and for the moment free people). The Guardian newspaper in the UK referred to him this morning as the “chief saboteur of the transatlantic alliance.”

As expected, lots of people gathered near the resort to hold signs and protest. But the most creative and courageous act came from a young woman named Lucy Welch, who is the “snow reporter” for the mountain, coming up with the daily updates on how much powder has fallen and where to watch for thin spots in the trails. Everyone who subscribes to the service got her dispatch this morning (though it was quickly pulled from the website) and it went like this:

Mar 1st, 2025, 6:49 AM: Today of all days, I would like to reflect on what Sugarbush means to me. This mountain has brought me endless days of joy, adventure, challenges, new experiences, beauty, community, and peace. I’ve found that nothing cures a racing mind quite like skiing through the trees and stopping to take a deep breath of that fresh forest air. The world around us might be a scary place, but these little moments of tranquility, moments I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy as a direct result of my employment here, give me, and I’d guess you, too, a sense of strength and stability.

This fresh forest air, is, more specifically fresh National Forest air. Sugarbush operates on 1745 acres of the Green Mountain National Forest. Right now, National Forest lands and National Parks are under direct attack by the current Administration, who is swiftly terminating the positions of dedicated employees who devote their lives to protecting the land we love, and to protecting us while we are enjoying that land.

This Administration also neglects to address the danger, or even the existence of, climate change, the biggest threat to the future of our industry, and the skiing we all so much enjoy here. Burlington, VT is one of the fastest-warming cities in the country, and Vermont is the 9th fastest-warming state. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), a resource I use every day for snow reporting, is crucial in monitoring extreme weather events and informing public safety measures, and is also experiencing widespread layoffs and defunding at the hands of the Administration.

Sugarbush would not be Sugarbush without our wonderful community. Employees and patrons alike, we are made up of some of the most kind hearted, hardworking people I have ever met. Our community is rich with folks of all different orientations, ethnicities, and walks of life, who all contribute to make this place what it is. They all love Sugarbush because it is a place where they can come to move their bodies, to connect with the land, to challenge themselves, to build character, to nourish their souls with the gift of skiing.

Many of these people are part of the LGBTQI+ community. Many (well, that’s a stretch, we all know this is an incredibly white-washed industry) are people of color. Half are women. Many are veterans or adaptive skiers who, through Vermont Adaptive, are able to access snow sports in part thanks to federal grants through the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is also facing devastating cuts. Many of our beloved employees moved across the world through an exchange program on the J1 visa to help this resort run, and they are not US citizens. ALL of these groups are being targeted, undervalued, and disrespected by the current Administration.

The beauty of National Forest land, is that anyone and everyone is welcome to enjoy it. Anyone and everyone can buy a lift ticket. I also imagine it is incredibly difficult, and likely impossible, to say “No” to the Secret Service. I hope that, instead of faulting Sugarbush management or employees for “allowing this to happen”, you can direct your anger to the source — the Administration that, in my oh-so-humble opinion, is threatening our democracy, our livelihoods, our land.

I want to reiterate how much I admire and respect my fellow employees and managers — they work so hard to make this place operate, to keep you coming back and enjoying it and making lifelong memories. Many of them may feel the same way that I do, but their hands are tied, and for good reason. They have families to support, they have benefits and health insurance to receive, they face far greater and more binding pressure from Corporate. I am in a privileged position here, in that I work only seasonally, I do not rely on this job for health insurance or benefits, and hey, waking up at 4:30 AM isn’t exactly sustainable. Therefore, I am using my relative “platform” as snow reporter, to be disruptive — I don’t have a whole lot to lose. We are living in a really scary and really serious time. What we do or don’t do, matters. This whole shpiel probably won’t change a whole lot, and I can only assume that I will be fired, but at least this will do even just a smidge more than just shutting up and being a sheep.

I am really scared for our future. Acting like nothing is happening here feels way scarier than losing my job. I want to have kids one day, and I want to teach them to ski. The policies and ideals of the current Administration, however, are not conducive to either of these things, because, at least how things look now, I’d never be able to afford a good life for a child anyway, and snow will be a thing of Vermont history. So please, for the sake of our future shredders: Be Better Here. It has truly been a pleasure writing your morning snow reports — I hope this one sticks with you. With love, peace, and hope, Lucy Welch

Welch is also responsible for the resort’s “snow phone,” which you can call to hear the update, and there she was even more succinct

Good morning skiers and riders, this is Lucy Welch on the snow phone. It is 7:06 AM on Saturday, March 1st and today is a really tricky day and I hope that everyone coming to the mountain (or not coming to the mountain) is using their voice and standing up for what they know our community is and should be standing for.

Our special guest, in my humble opinion, does not reflect the values and the magic of this place, especially given the fact that he'll be skiing on National Forest Land which his administration is actively trying to dismantle among other things. Check out the Snow Report if it's still up.

Then she gives the snow report for the day. And then she says

What a gift to be a Sugarbush snow reporter. I hope that everyone has a fantastic day, and power to the freakin' people. Thank you for calling the Sugarbush snow phone and Be Better Here.

I don’t think there’s a lot to add here, except that if a 25-year-old can risk her job to—quite politely—speak truth to power, the rest of us can figure out some things to do as well.

Those of you who know your American history may remember Ethan Allen, leader of a gang of Vermont rowdies called the Green Mountain Boys who caused no end of trouble to King George. Well, we need more of them to take on King Donald, and I’d follow Lucy Welch in a heartbeat.

In other energy and climate news:

+I wrote yesterday that the NOAA website was still up, despite all the scurrilous attacks on its personnel. Well, by today the “external affairs” staff, who is in charge of communication, posted a plainitive note saying that every member of the team had been “relieved of their duties.” Thanks to you for being valuable Americans too!

+Ted Glick, an indefatigable activist, provides an update on the trial of pipeline protesters in Virginia:

On Tuesday February 25^th 12 pipeline fighters, almost all of them young people, were sentenced in a Giles County courtroom for nonviolent direct actions they had taken over the last year and a half trying to stop the completion of the fracked-gas transporting Mountain Valley Pipeline. All locked themselves to construction equipment, inserted their bodies into pipelines or locked down to block roads leading to construction sites. Some were facing felony charges, though most were charged with misdemeanors.

Without any on the ground knowledge, people not from this part of the country, coal country, would likely expect the sentences handed down to be harsh, but that wasn’t the case. No one was sentenced to jail time; instead, after negotiating down all the felonies to misdemeanors, each of the 12 was sentenced to 50 hours of community service per misdemeanor. For some with three misdemeanors this meant a sentence of 150 hours.
And though the issue of fines was put off to future court dates, it is impossible to see this result as anything but a big victory for the climate justice movement.