FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2012
Press Release from the Friends of Stadium Woods
Rebekah Paulson, Executive Director
www.savestadiumwoods.com
540/ 250-6905
rebekah.paulson@comcast.net
No development in Stadium Woods but no preservation either
We are pleased that Vice President Sherwood Wilson upheld the APFSEC recommendation not to build in Stadium Woods which has been the athletic departments preferred location adjacent to their outdoor football practice fields.
Please note that this site was never the “original location” for the proposed facility as the Aug. 20, 2012 memo to President Steger indicates. Rather it became the “suggested and preferred” location for athletics and the facilities staff in 2010. The original location in the Virginia Tech Master Plan for the proposed facility has always been the tennis courts on Washington Street.
We call on President Steger to confirm the APFSEC and Mr. Wilson’s recommendation that the university will not site the proposed football facility in Stadium Woods or any part of it.
We are clearly disappointed that Mr. Wilson did not recommend preserving the old growth urban forest in a permanent conservation easement. He seems to miss the point that the woods should be permanently preserved and properly managed so that there is never again proposed development threatening the woods.
We call on President Steger and the Board of Visitors to commit the university and the Commonwealth of Virginia to permanently preserve the only ancient, old growth white oak urban forest remnant remaining on the east coast and the only one existing on a land grant university campus.
The Friends of Stadium Woods will continue to advocate for the permanent preservation of Stadium Woods in a conservation easement. Until this action is taken we will not rest and the university will continue to tarnish its “green” reputation.