Signs of development appear within a beloved urban forest on the edge of UNCA’s campus, driving community members to demand answers about the land’s future.
“The first we knew about it was when this vehicle came plowing trails into wide roads,” said Dennis Ash, a retired teacher and resident of Five Points, a neighborhood bordering the woods.
An outside source hired by UNCA is currently exploring the area. According to Andrew Laughlin, an ecology professor at UNCA, this includes determining the bedrock and watersheds to better understand where on campus a new building might be suitable.
Ash said that the woods hold significant value for the local community. They contain an abundance of wildlife, including various bird species, salamanders, box turtles, luna moths, and fireflies. The trails are also frequented by neighbors and UNCA’s cross-country and track teams.
According to Laughlin, the urban forest provides excellent learning opportunities for students. He uses it to teach bird identification in his Avian Ecology class and plant identification in his other Ecology classes.
Environmental science professors at UNCA said this lot of land has also been used for undergraduate research projects and claim that recent sampling activities have disrupted ongoing research, damaging valuable data.
Lisa Howell, a neighbor of the woods, said the school has lacked transparency and has caused neighbors trouble when searching for information about development-related events in the woods.
“Our first couple of attempts of asking what’s going on, they responded very haphazardly,” Howell said. “It seems to me like the university got their feet out of them, and now they have this canned response of ‘this is what we’re doing.’”
According to a statement by UNCA officials, they have yet to decide whether to build.
However, Howell is skeptical of the university’s statement, suspecting that a plan may already be in place but not disclosed to the public.
“All the things they’re doing are a significant financial investment,” Howell said. “You wouldn’t do that unless you already had an idea for the buildings you would put there.”
UNCA bought this land more than 70 years ago and left it undisturbed. According to Ash, the area has been a place for community members to enjoy and maintain.
“The university has largely ignored this piece of land. In the back of somebody’s mind, it’s undeveloped property, but for those of us who live in the neighborhood, it’s a treasure,” Ash said. “Over the decades, neighbors have made trails, and if a tree’s fallen, they’ve cut it to keep the trail going.”
Laughlin said the woods are doing their job as an urban forest.
“It’s providing habitat. It’s bringing water and transpiring water. It’s pulling in carbon from the atmosphere. It’s doing all the things that an urban forest should do,” the ecology professor said. “It would be a pity to see it broken up.”
Community members said they worry about where wildlife would go if they build on this land. Many of the species in these natural woodlands are rare, such as the salamanders and luna moths, while others, like the Great Horned Owls, are protected.
“It’s been a safe ground for them, and it’s not easy for them to just move and go somewhere else when you start destroying their habitat and building on it,” Ash said.
Laughlin said that if they are to build on this land, it would also be lovely to see at least a portion of it preserved and left for research and course activities. He and community members hope the university will collaborate with professors and locals as UNCA continues to explore development options for the land.
Howell said she began using multiple social media platforms to give herself and others opposing the schools’ activity on this land a voice.
“We started trying to spread the word — reaching out, letting people know what was going on,” Howell said.
They have received a strong response, with more than 8,500 people having signed a petition and more than 2,000 people in a Facebook group titled “Save the Woods.” The group serves as a hub where people spread the word about upcoming protests, related events, and recent developments in the woods.
After Hurricane Helene’s devastation, which resulted in the loss of many trees, community members said preserving the woods, one of the only urban forests remaining in the greater Asheville area, is more critical than ever.
UPDATE: Since the article was written, UNC Asheville officials posted a new statement about development plans.
“In a letter to faculty and staff, UNC Asheville’s chancellor confirmed that its Millennial Campus — which encompasses 45 acres of urban forest — will be developed. While no official projects or timelines have been confirmed, the surrounding community has organized to protect the forest since excavators were spotted on the property in January.” (Asheville Citizen-Times)
