Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, § 5794 (2026)

§ 5794. Landowner protection

(a) The fact that an owner has made land available without consideration for recreational uses shall not be construed to:

(1) limit the property rights of owners;

(2) limit the ability of an owner and a recreational user of the land to enter into agreements for the recreational use of the land to vary or supplement the duties and limitations created in this chapter;

(3) support or create any claim or right of eminent domain, adverse possession, or other prescriptive right or easement or any other land use restriction;

(4) alter, modify, or supersede the rights and responsibilities under 20 V.S.A. chapter 191 (animal control), and 20 V.S.A. chapter 193 (domestic pet or wolf-hybrid control); under 23 V.S.A. chapter 29 (snowmobiles), and 23 V.S.A. chapter 31 (all-terrain vehicles); under 19 V.S.A. chapter 23 (bicycle routes); and under 10 V.S.A. chapter 20 (Vermont trail system);

(5) extend any assurance that the land is safe for recreational uses or create any duty on an owner to inspect the land to discover dangerous conditions;

(6) relieve a person making recreational use of land from the obligation the person may have in the absence of this chapter to exercise due care for the person’s own safety in the recreational use of the land.

(b) Nothing in this chapter shall create any presumption or inference of permission or consent to enter upon an owner’s land for any purpose.

(c) For the purposes of protecting landowners who make land available for recreational use to members of the public for no consideration pursuant to this chapter, the presence of one or more of the following on land does not by itself preclude the land from being “open and undeveloped”: posting of the land, fences, or agricultural or forestry-related structures. (Added 1997, No. 110 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1997 No. 147 (Adj. Sess.), § 190a.)