Hill Demonstration Forest
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28 August 2007
To Whom It May Concern:
The Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University are once again issuing recreational permits to access the G. W. Hill Forest. The Department manages this property as a teaching, demonstration, and research forest, with those activities funded by tuition and fees, donations from our Forestry Foundation, and timber sales from the forest. All non-academic activities on the Forest must be self funded. We will accommodate recreational uses of the Forest that do not conflict with our primary academic mission.
Our analysis of current and potential recreational uses of the Hill Forest continues. To date we have completed an environmental trail condition assessment, developed a plan for continued assessment of trail conditions, conducted numerous interviews with stakeholders, hired off duty Durham County Sheriffs to patrol, completed a review of liability issues, and gathered data on recreational use of the forest over several months. The trail assessment found 57 areas requiring attention to correct environmental problems. The Natural Resources Conservation Service estimated the cost of stabilizing these areas to be $25,288. Since this damage occurred over a period of years, the repair of the trails will be funded by departmental funds and income from Forest timber revenues. The cost of bringing the trails back to a satisfactory condition WILL NOT be charged to permit fees. Once the trails are in satisfactory condition, however, the cost of trail maintenance will be included in permit fees.
Reports on all of the reviews are forthcoming, and as they are completed, they will be posted on the Department website: http://www.cnr.ncsu.edu/fer/dept/index.html. We will continue to collect data on recreational use to determine what types and levels of recreational use we can sustain. Other issues that we will address in the coming months include estimating costs, identifying funding of trail maintenance and law enforcement, methods of administering recreational use of the forest fairly and efficiently, and better communication with permit holders.
All permits will expire on 30 June 2008. You will note that we have increased the costs of permits this year. If we sell approximately the same number of permits as the 2006-2007 period, we will raise approximately $5800, or about 1/3 of the cost of the Durham County Sheriff patrols, which help keep out ATV’s and poachers. We will thus operate the recreational program at a loss this fiscal year.
We will not be selling individual day permits, since the logistics of such permits are not workable. If you have a group that wants to use the Forest on a specific date(s), please call.
Joe Cox
College Forest Manager
Office: (919) 515-7576 Email:joe_cox@ncsu.edu
