"When people who have never lived in New Hampshire or Vermont visit here, they often say they feel like they've come home.  Our urban center, commercial districts, small villages and industrial enterprises are set amid farmlands and forests.  This is a landscape in which the natural and built environments are balanced on a human scale. This delicate balance is the nature of our ‘community character. It’s important to strengthen our distinctive, traditional patterns to counteract the commercial and residential sprawl that upsets this balance and destroys our social and economic stability.’’

— Richard J. Ewald, author of Proud To Live Here in The Connecticut River Valley Of Vermont and New Hampshire. He lives in Putney, Vt.