Vermont Business Magazine Wild leeks, also known as ramps (Allium tricoccum), are a wild edible that many Vermonters enjoy each spring. If you are foraging for them, be careful to not mistake the ramps for a poisonous lookalike plant called false hellebore. The young leaves of American false hellebore (Veratrum viride) are often mistaken for ramps. False hellebore contains poisonous chemicals called alkaloids, and eating false hellebore can make people very sick, enough to hospitalize them.

by Dawn Schneiderman Blue Cross employees are taking the Vaccine Pledge. To support Vermont public health goals, encourage our friends and neighbors to get their COVID vaccinations, and contribute to our overall community health goals, our employee Worksite Wellness Program is donating $100 for each employee who commits to be vaccinated when their group is approved by the state. These donations in the employee’s name will go to their choice of three local community service organizations. Employees have enthusiastically joined the movement, boosting their overall wellness, and supporting our local community organizations.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Natural Resources Council awarded a Small Grant for Smart Growth to the Cross Vermont Trail Association to further its goal of connecting villages, schools, and conserved natural areas in Central Vermont. CVTA is working to build out a network of trails that serve the upper Winooski Valley, from Montpelier to the Groton State Forest, winding through East Montpelier, Plainfield and Marshfield, providing a way for pedestrians and cyclists to conveniently access the outdoors. The basis of the Cross Vermont Trail lies in an old railbed formerly used by the Montpelier & Wells River Railroad, which for many decades was used as an informal public trail.

Vermont Business Magazine In recognition of Earth Day, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) today announced that it has joined the effort to protect the Monarch butterfly by enrolling highway right-of-way lands throughout the state in a voluntary nationwide conversation program. The eastern Monarch population has declined by approximately 77 percent since 1995.

Vermont Business Magazine Representatives Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), and Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) today re-introduced bipartisan legislation that requires the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take enforcement action against manufacturers labeling non-dairy products as dairy. The DAIRY PRIDE Act would stop the use of dairy terms such as milk, yogurt and cheese on the labels of non-dairy products made from nuts, seeds, plants, and algae. The legislation does not prevent the sale of non-dairy products, only their mislabeling as dairy products.