Dear Dean Watzin,
We have become aware of the impending sale of the Hofmann Forest. We petition you to stop this sale. The Hofmann Forest is a unique asset to the College of Natural Resources. Not only does it provide a steady stream of revenue from timber production but it also serves as an excellent teaching tool through countless research projects and class visits that are conducted on the forest.
The loss of the Hofmann Forest would be a huge loss to the University, the College of Natural Resources, and to the citizens of North Carolina. The benefits that the Hofmann Forest provides to the University and the College of Natural Resources cannot be quantified. The indirect economic benefits that the forest provides through research and better natural resource professionals are invaluable to the state of North Carolina.
We petition you to stop this sale now.
**Update**
The University signed an agreement with Jerry Walker of Walker Ag Group out of Illinois. The agreement is for $150 million to be invested in the stock market. Please see the new blog post for the entire email sent by Dean Watzin.
Additionally, please take this time to consider donating to the Hofmann Forest Legal Fund to stop this sale in its tracks. Please contact Chancellor Woodson, Dean Watzin, and Linda Brickhouse immediately to voice your displeasure with the sale. Contact information can be found here:http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cnr-alumni-against-the-sale-of-the-hofmann-forest/blog/11689
**Update**
We have filed suit in Wake County Superior Court against the Endowment Fund of the Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University to prevent the sale of the Hofmann Forest. Pursuing this case with legal counsel will be expensive, with an estimated cost of up to $25,000 or more at the first level of the trial court process. We are writing to ask for your contributions to this cause, which we all think is worthwhile. Clearly a court challenge is the only thing that is apt to stop this sale and allow for more time for deliberation. As plaintiffs, we are committed to stopping the sale, and have contributed and received more $12,000 so far to retain counsel.
The Hofmann State Forest is the largest and most important non-federal public forest lands property in North Carolina, and we think we can still protect it far better through conservation easements, leases, partial or complete retention, or other alternatives, which have not been examined seriously with any state agency or public input, as required by law for state lands. We do think we can do better than an outright sale if the lawsuit prevails.
All funds will go the Hofmann Forest Legal Fund. If there extra funds after the case, we will contribute the remaining balance to the Sam Hughes and Don and Jean Steensen scholarship funds in the Natural Resource Foundation at NCSU, in order to be sure that they fulfill the spirit of forestry education and professionalism exhibited by two of our former leaders.
You have two options to donate to the Hofmann Forest Legal Fund.
Option 1: Write a check payable to: "Wildlands Network", with "100% restricted for Hofmann Forest Legal Fund" in the memo line. Mail or hand-deliver them to Ron Sutherland at: 5801 Mountain Island Dr, Durham, NC 27713; his cell phone is (919) 641-0060. Email both Ron {[email protected]} and Logan Roise {[email protected]} the amount that you have donated, so we can keep an independent record of contributions for audit control.
Option 2: Donate Online: You can also donate online via this website, https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1414336. As with mailing in a physical check, please indicate that "100% be restricted for Hofmann Forest Legal Fund" in the dedication line and email both Ron {[email protected]} and Logan Roise {[email protected]} the amount that you have donated, so we can keep an independent record of contributions for audit control.
These donations to the Wildlands Network should be tax deductible like other environmental law nongovernment organizations, but we cannot offer final tax advice. We will provide receipts that people can use to claim tax deductions as appropriate. Thanks very much for your support.
Fred Cubbage, Ron Sutherland, Barny Bernard, and Jim Gregory
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
June 28, 2013
June 26, 2013
We need to hit the one thousand signature mark before our next briefing with the administration. Reaching this threshold will establish the necessary baseline to challenge the current valuation of the timberland during our upcoming legal consultation.
May 23, 2013
I am currently finalizing a formal letter to the Board of Trustees detailing the long term research implications of this transaction. We are also coordinating with legal counsel to evaluate the terms of the private agreement with the Walker Ag Group.
Reached 100 supporters
January 21, 2013
January 19, 2013
We are approaching the one hundred signature mark which serves as our baseline threshold for requesting a formal meeting with the Dean. Please distribute the petition link through your professional networks to ensure we cross this target before the end of the work week.
274 Comments
What NC Cooperative Extension and NC State University have done through their recent divestment frenzy is offensive, reckless and irresponsible and does not reflect the long-sighted vision the public should expect from our public institutions and professional stewards.
We live across the street from Hofmann Forest. Much of the reason why we moved to the area was due to appreciation of this natural resource and for the enjoyment of our children. Please STOP the destruction of this beautiful preserve!!!
How can we teach conservation and sustainability of our natural resources by the sale of a key environmental asset???????????? Further, it has not been made 100% clear what the buyer's intentions are. I think the sale should be postponed until we know all the answers.
This sale is an appalling decision. This land was given to the NCSU School of Forestry for the purpose of research, education and income. The land was not donated to be carved up for sale for subdivision with the proceeds wagered on stock market derivatives.
The sale of Hofmann Forest will represent an enormous loss to the people of NC. The almost unmatched size of this parcel has a major effect on endangered species, runoff and will never be replaced by small isolated plots of timbered lands.
Save the forest. According to the New York Post’s story, Hunter Biden in 2015 introduced his Father, then VP in the Obama Administration, to a Top Exec Vadym Pozharskyi at Ukrainian Burisma Holdings Ltd after Hunter joined the company’s board which was Paying him up to $83,000 a Month. The insinuation is that Hunter Successfully Influenced his Father to Pressure Ukraine Government officials “into Firing the Prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was Investigating Corruption against Burisma. Facebook and Twitter took action to limit distribution (censored) the New York Post story citing Emails purportedly Revealing Evidence of Influence-Peddling by Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. The Emails were obtained from a Laptop which had a sticker from the Beau Biden Foundation, and had been Abandoned at Computer-Repair Shop, named “The Mac Shop” in Wilmington, Delaware and owned by John Paul Mac Isaac, who then reported the laptop’s contents to authorities which determined that the laptop and hard drive contain fruits of criminal activity. Joe Biden and his family engaged in "Legal Corruption" despite claims of no wrongdoing and the Liberal Main Stream Media Refuses to Talk and will never Report about Hunter Biden’s laptop and emails, fearing Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden will Lose the 2020 Election if this information is exposed to the American People. This is evidence that Joe Biden participated in his Family’s CASH-for-Influence Scheme with Shady Foreign Companies. The American People should be demanding that the Media investigate this scandal before they VOTE, but we know, the Media will never report on Hunter Biden’s emails because it would be harmful to Joe Biden.
As a former NC resident and a forest owner who understands the valuable ecological services/benefits that standing forests provide, I strongly request that the Hofmann Forest be preserved and protected for the future. Douglas Paprocki Purdue University
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Dear Dean Watzin,
We have become aware of the impending sale of the Hofmann Forest. We petition you to stop this sale. The Hofmann Forest is a unique asset to the College of Natural Resources. Not only does it provide a steady stream of revenue from timber production but it also serves as an excellent teaching tool through countless research projects and class visits that are conducted on the forest.
The loss of the Hofmann Forest would be a huge loss to the University, the College of Natural Resources, and to the citizens of North Carolina. The benefits that the Hofmann Forest provides to the University and the College of Natural Resources cannot be quantified. The indirect economic benefits that the forest provides through research and better natural resource professionals are invaluable to the state of North Carolina.
We petition you to stop this sale now.
**Update**
The University signed an agreement with Jerry Walker of Walker Ag Group out of Illinois. The agreement is for $150 million to be invested in the stock market. Please see the new blog post for the entire email sent by Dean Watzin.
Additionally, please take this time to consider donating to the Hofmann Forest Legal Fund to stop this sale in its tracks. Please contact Chancellor Woodson, Dean Watzin, and Linda Brickhouse immediately to voice your displeasure with the sale. Contact information can be found here:http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cnr-alumni-against-the-sale-of-the-hofmann-forest/blog/11689
**Update**
We have filed suit in Wake County Superior Court against the Endowment Fund of the Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University to prevent the sale of the Hofmann Forest. Pursuing this case with legal counsel will be expensive, with an estimated cost of up to $25,000 or more at the first level of the trial court process. We are writing to ask for your contributions to this cause, which we all think is worthwhile. Clearly a court challenge is the only thing that is apt to stop this sale and allow for more time for deliberation. As plaintiffs, we are committed to stopping the sale, and have contributed and received more $12,000 so far to retain counsel.
The Hofmann State Forest is the largest and most important non-federal public forest lands property in North Carolina, and we think we can still protect it far better through conservation easements, leases, partial or complete retention, or other alternatives, which have not been examined seriously with any state agency or public input, as required by law for state lands. We do think we can do better than an outright sale if the lawsuit prevails.
All funds will go the Hofmann Forest Legal Fund. If there extra funds after the case, we will contribute the remaining balance to the Sam Hughes and Don and Jean Steensen scholarship funds in the Natural Resource Foundation at NCSU, in order to be sure that they fulfill the spirit of forestry education and professionalism exhibited by two of our former leaders.
You have two options to donate to the Hofmann Forest Legal Fund.
Option 1: Write a check payable to: "Wildlands Network", with "100% restricted for Hofmann Forest Legal Fund" in the memo line. Mail or hand-deliver them to Ron Sutherland at: 5801 Mountain Island Dr, Durham, NC 27713; his cell phone is (919) 641-0060. Email both Ron {[email protected]} and Logan Roise {[email protected]} the amount that you have donated, so we can keep an independent record of contributions for audit control.
Option 2: Donate Online: You can also donate online via this website, https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1414336. As with mailing in a physical check, please indicate that "100% be restricted for Hofmann Forest Legal Fund" in the dedication line and email both Ron {[email protected]} and Logan Roise {[email protected]} the amount that you have donated, so we can keep an independent record of contributions for audit control.
These donations to the Wildlands Network should be tax deductible like other environmental law nongovernment organizations, but we cannot offer final tax advice. We will provide receipts that people can use to claim tax deductions as appropriate. Thanks very much for your support.
Fred Cubbage, Ron Sutherland, Barny Bernard, and Jim Gregory
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
June 28, 2013
June 26, 2013
We need to hit the one thousand signature mark before our next briefing with the administration. Reaching this threshold will establish the necessary baseline to challenge the current valuation of the timberland during our upcoming legal consultation.
May 23, 2013
I am currently finalizing a formal letter to the Board of Trustees detailing the long term research implications of this transaction. We are also coordinating with legal counsel to evaluate the terms of the private agreement with the Walker Ag Group.
Reached 100 supporters
January 21, 2013
January 19, 2013
We are approaching the one hundred signature mark which serves as our baseline threshold for requesting a formal meeting with the Dean. Please distribute the petition link through your professional networks to ensure we cross this target before the end of the work week.
274 Comments
Selling the Hofmann Forest is very short sighted. Anyone who knows the forest industry knows that property is valuable, and with more intensive forest management and a master plan which includes some development, it could yield far greater returns in the future than a sale now.
What NC Cooperative Extension and NC State University have done through their recent divestment frenzy is offensive, reckless and irresponsible and does not reflect the long-sighted vision the public should expect from our public institutions and professional stewards.
We live across the street from Hofmann Forest. Much of the reason why we moved to the area was due to appreciation of this natural resource and for the enjoyment of our children. Please STOP the destruction of this beautiful preserve!!!
How can we teach conservation and sustainability of our natural resources by the sale of a key environmental asset???????????? Further, it has not been made 100% clear what the buyer's intentions are. I think the sale should be postponed until we know all the answers.
This sale is an appalling decision. This land was given to the NCSU School of Forestry for the purpose of research, education and income. The land was not donated to be carved up for sale for subdivision with the proceeds wagered on stock market derivatives.
The sale of Hofmann Forest will represent an enormous loss to the people of NC. The almost unmatched size of this parcel has a major effect on endangered species, runoff and will never be replaced by small isolated plots of timbered lands.
Save the forest. According to the New York Post’s story, Hunter Biden in 2015 introduced his Father, then VP in the Obama Administration, to a Top Exec Vadym Pozharskyi at Ukrainian Burisma Holdings Ltd after Hunter joined the company’s board which was Paying him up to $83,000 a Month. The insinuation is that Hunter Successfully Influenced his Father to Pressure Ukraine Government officials “into Firing the Prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was Investigating Corruption against Burisma. Facebook and Twitter took action to limit distribution (censored) the New York Post story citing Emails purportedly Revealing Evidence of Influence-Peddling by Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. The Emails were obtained from a Laptop which had a sticker from the Beau Biden Foundation, and had been Abandoned at Computer-Repair Shop, named “The Mac Shop” in Wilmington, Delaware and owned by John Paul Mac Isaac, who then reported the laptop’s contents to authorities which determined that the laptop and hard drive contain fruits of criminal activity. Joe Biden and his family engaged in "Legal Corruption" despite claims of no wrongdoing and the Liberal Main Stream Media Refuses to Talk and will never Report about Hunter Biden’s laptop and emails, fearing Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden will Lose the 2020 Election if this information is exposed to the American People. This is evidence that Joe Biden participated in his Family’s CASH-for-Influence Scheme with Shady Foreign Companies. The American People should be demanding that the Media investigate this scandal before they VOTE, but we know, the Media will never report on Hunter Biden’s emails because it would be harmful to Joe Biden.
As a former NC resident and a forest owner who understands the valuable ecological services/benefits that standing forests provide, I strongly request that the Hofmann Forest be preserved and protected for the future. Douglas Paprocki Purdue University
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Selling the Hofmann Forest is very short sighted. Anyone who knows the forest industry knows that property is valuable, and with more intensive forest management and a master plan which includes some development, it could yield far greater returns in the future than a sale now.