To: Randy Woodson, Chancellor, NCSU, Mary Watzin, Dean, NCSU College of Natural Resources, Benjamin Jenkins III, Chairman, NCSU Board of Trustees, and Roy Cooper, Attorney General of NC

Save Hofmann Forest from being destroyed

NC State University should not sell Hofmann Forest (a 79,000-acre tract of public land in coastal North Carolina) to a private businessman to be bulldozed into cornfields and golf courses. Hofmann Forest should be permanently protected from development, and opened back up for the public to enjoy.

Why is this important?

Hofmann Forest has been owned for the benefit of NC State University for 80 years, ever since "Doc" Hofmann purchased the tract for his newly founded School of Forestry. Now, however, the leaders of NCSU are trying to sell this huge coastal forest for $150 million, so they can invest the proceeds in Wall Street instead. And the buyer they've chosen prepared detailed plans to bulldoze 45,000 acres of the forest into cropfields (to grow corn which would feed corporate hogs) and another 9000 acres into golf courses and strip malls. This would be disastrous for wildlife, water quality (3 rivers flow out of Hofmann Forest), and the reputation of NC State University.