Lost in forest

Thanks for your March 10 article “Fired up over Hofmann Forest.”

This aligns well with “Sunshine Week,” which promotes open government. The proposed sale of the Hofmann Forest, a public treasure of the N.C. State University Endowment Board and the College of Natural Resources, was made in secret by a Natural Resources Foundation Board with no input allowed from students, faculty or the public at the meeting. The people who voted to sell the public forest remain secret but appear to include 13 pulp, paper, wood products and energy executives and not even one forest land manager, student or faculty member.

In addition, faculty members have asked for the correct book or market values of the Hofmann Forest from the NR and NCSU Foundations through open records requests and have been ignored. And we are the faculty that created that valuable forest!

The unilateral disposal of a $140 million public teaching, research and demonstration forest should not be carried out in secret, behind closed doors, without consulting any stakeholders or releasing any crucial records. Many of us hope the “Sunshine Week” efforts by The N&O will continue to investigate NCSU academic and fundraising issues.

Frederick Cubbage

Professor, Forestry and Environmental Resources, NCSU

Apex