Hofmann Forest
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The Hofmann Forest is located in the coastal region of North Carolina. With nearly 80,000 contiguous acres, it comprises the single largest holding of the College of Natural Resources.
The forest is situated on what was historically referred to as the White Oak pocosin. Pocosin is an Algonquin Indian word for "swamp on a hill," a phrase which aptly describes the character of this unqiue wetland forest.
Hofmann Forest has long supported academic excellence at NC State University through graduate fellowships, basic and applied research and outdoor-classroom instruction.
Formal research within the boudaries of the Hofmann Forest began in 1936, with early research concentrating almost exclusively on hydrology and the growth of pines. Many of the publications from this era are concerned with interrelationships among water table levels, artificial drainage, and tree height growth. These topics produced an early report of research in 1947 and pioneered the use of pocosins for forestry.
Subsequent research has studied a wide range of topics, including fire ecology, organic soils, wildlife, seed quality of pond pine, natural regeneration of pond pine, survival and growth of Atlantic White Cedar, forest hydrology, site productivity, bio-diversity, tree spacing, cattle grazing, forest economics, water quality and atmospheric nutrient deposition.
Like many of our forests, the Hoffman is harvested using environmentally-sound, sustainable forestry practices — providing income used to fund FER activities, fellowships, research and student scholarships.
