NC State announced a long-term plan Tuesday that would leave most of the 79,000-acre Hofmann Forest intact but would generate tens of millions of dollars for the university and the College of Natural Resources by selling deeds to timber companies for sustainable timber farming and selling working easements for use by the Department of Defense.
The announcement comes following two years of controversy after the university first made a deal to sell the forest, which is near Jacksonville, North Carolina, to an Illinois agricultural business, but the plan ultimately fell through when the business failed to acquire the funding to close the deal in November. Before the deal failed environmental groups filed a suit attempting to block it and the deal also garnered widespread opposition among faculty members, students and farmers and agriculturalists across North Carolina.
Under the new plan, about 70,000 acres of the woodland will be used much in the same way they are now. Previous opponents of the initial deal are praising the university for the new plan and its emphasis on sustainability.
In a statement, Chancellor Randy Woodson said the university is now pursuing a plan that would yield greater financial benefits in the long run, as opposed to a large, one-time profit.
“We believe this is the most responsible way to move forward,” Woodson said in the statement. “We learned a great deal during last year’s sales effort and in the process became aware of long-term opportunities that allow for greater control of the land and ultimately more benefit to the College of Natural Resources, its students and faculty.”
The plan includes selling the nearby Camp Lejune the rights to use some of the land, which the Marine Corps is already doing to some extent, as well as selling a long-term timber deed for about 56,000 acres of the pine plantation with mandates for sustainable practice. The plan will also make conservation easements for the 18,000-acre Big Open Pocosin, a wetland area. The university said it will also plan how to effectively develop about 4,000 acres along State Highway 17 near Jacksonville and potentially selling 1,600 acres of farmland for continued agricultural means.
The plan was announced by the NCSU Endowment Fund and approved by the fund’s board of trustees.
The Natural Resources Foundation, which serves as manager of the forest and its operations, could make more than $125 million in return on investments during the next several years, according to the university statement. That money would go to the CNR and provide additional scholarships and research funding.
“This plan will generate significant income for the college while maintaining control over future uses of the property,” said Mary Watzin, dean of the College of Natural Resources in the statement, who had stood with the university throughout the time it attempted to sell the forest. “It supports the strategic needs of the college and ultimately may serve as a model for sustainable solutions to the twin challenges of natural resource conservation and economic development.”
Fred Cubbage, a professor of forestry, said the move was a step in the right direction and that it was “staying true to our ideals for forest sustainability in the College of Natural Resources.”
Both Cubbage and conservationist Ron Sutherland, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit to block the initial deal, expressed concern that the new plan did not explicitly state that the entire forest would be open to the public and be available for access to students and faculty members for research and teaching purposes.
Cubbage said that moving forward, he would like to see the university make the Hofmann Forest process a more public process and further engage and involve students, faculty members and all other stakeholders.
However, both Cubbage and Sutherland strongly commended the university for its move.
“We need to teach what we believe and practice what we teach,” Cubbage said. “Not contain language stating that the forest would have full access for the public.”
