When an old growth forest in Blacksburg was spared the chopping block in 2012, environmentalists cheered. But Friends of Stadium Woods, say that was not the end of it. Even though Virginia Tech agreed to change the location of a new athletic practice field, sparing the woods, they say they’re still not ‘out of the woods’ when it comes to the future of that rare and precious forest.
“This is an old growth forest and what we’re seeing are the processes that take place in a native forest …”
Somehow 11 acres of old growth has managed to survive as a bustling campus grew up around it. But protectors of the trees worry that without legally binding protection it is still not safe from the ax. So, they produced this short video to remind people why that’s important.
“Having an old growth forest on the central campus of a university is just an incredible resource how many schools have the opportunity to teach in an old growth forest.”
Chris Risch, a Virginia Tech Graduate Student Tech and aspiring film maker, made an earlier movie when the woods were threatened by the planned university building project that would have taken down some of the trees.
“The first video I released in 2012, aimed at protecting the woods from immediate threat and this film was aimed to protect the woods permanently. So hopefully, I won’t have to make another one after this.
Rebekah Paulson is with Friends of Stadium Woods. She say, "The woods are still not protected in any legally binding way. It also remains uncelebrated. It’s not a feature that the campus promotes. Here we have an old growth forest that’s used by professors and students, it’s not really celebrated as anything special.”
The University says it remains committed to preserving Stadium Woods, but stops short of putting that on a legally binding document.
