diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4ac28e4..26a1ab9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ The format follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/), versions fol
   and mypy targeting 3.12, and the tool itself needs 3.12. netOrk runs every driver in
   its own containers on 3.12, so older versions are no longer tested. `check`
   requires `requires-python` ≥ 3.12.
+- The template's floor on napalm is 5.1: older releases import `pkg_resources`, which a
+  Python 3.12 venv no longer has, so `lowest` fails on them.
 - `check` reports a license given as a TOML table or as a `License ::` classifier:
   setuptools refuses both from 2027-02-18 (PEP 639). The template builds with
   setuptools>=77.
diff --git a/template/pyproject.toml b/template/pyproject.toml
index 3c85393..9cedca1 100644
--- a/template/pyproject.toml
+++ b/template/pyproject.toml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ classifiers = [
     "Topic :: System :: Networking",
 ]
 dependencies = [
-    "napalm>=5.0",
+    "napalm>=5.1",  # older releases import pkg_resources, which a 3.12 venv lacks
     "napalm-device-types>=4.21",
 ]