[Trees] clear-cutting of woods

[David Bullock]

March 30, 2001

To the editor:

Recently while jogging through part of campus south of the University 
President's house, I noticed Operations and Management crews were 
clear-cutting several acres of woods.  I am in the habit of running 
on a trail through those woods, and I was dismayed to see them being 
clear-cut.  I made some phone calls to O&M and the University 
Arboretum, and I was told by Mr. Gary Beale and Mr. Dave Williams 
that the idea of clear-cutting was initiated by Mr. Dave Langendorf 
of the University Police Department.  Mr. Langendorf was concerned 
because people had been participating in illicit activities in those 
woods, and homeless people had set up shelters there.  Mr. Langendorf 
relayed his concerns to Mr. Craig Bazzani of the University 
President's office, and they decided that the best way to take care 
of the situation was to clear-cut the woods.  Mr. Bazzani granted O&M 
funding to conduct the clear-cutting.  People from the Arboretum, to 
whom the land is technically assigned, did go through the woods and 
mark "thirty to fifty" trees that were not "trash trees," and would 
not be cut down.  Some day in the future, the land is to be used by 
the arboretum for plant experiments.

It's hard for me to say whether this policy decision of clear-cutting 
the woods was a bad one or a good one.  It's not clear to me when the 
Arboretum will begin conducting its experiments, and I'm not sure how 
to distinguish "trash trees" from "good trees," or what their 
relative values are to the general University environment.  I suspect 
that it may be an over-reaction to crime to clear-cut wooded areas in 
order to prevent illicit activity.  I know that these kinds of policy 
decisions, which affect everyone on campus, should not be made by the 
University Police, and should not be made in virtual secret to avoid 
public debate.

David Bullock
Associate Professor
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics
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