Statement by the Friends of the Woods

UNC Asheville’s 45-acre urban forest has been a cherished community resource and wildlife habitat for decades. It’s now under threat of development, despite its status as one of the last remaining urban forests in Asheville.

On January 13th, 2025, with no advance notice to faculty, staff, students, or community members, a mini excavator began clearing tracks as wide as traffic lanes in the UNCA urban forest. In this destructive process, animal habitats were disturbed, long-term ecological research plots maintained by UNCA professors and students were destroyed, and the many Asheville community members who walk the trails daily were alarmed at the sudden and shocking development. Just a week later, heavy boring equipment arrived and began drilling to assess the sustainability of specific locations for construction. 

The lack of transparency from UNCA has raised questions and anxiety from a wide range of stakeholders including UNCA students, faculty, staff, neighbors, local businesses, and citizens of Asheville. We understand and accept that this land is owned by UNCA and may be used in a variety of ways. However, we believe it currently provides such a rare and unique range of benefits both to UNCA and to the city of Asheville that any construction on the land would lead to a dire loss for the community and a detriment to Asheville’s climate resilience. Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, which damaged or destroyed an estimated 40% of trees in Buncombe County, protecting this forest is of even greater importance to our community at large. 

UNCA states that it cares about maintaining this “critical part of the green infrastructure that makes up the city and campus ecosystem” (UNCA website). But, as longtime stakeholders in the fate of this land and unrecognized stewards of the land until now, we are gravely concerned about the direction these activities are headed. Furthermore, part of the university’s vision for the future includes deeper community engagement and greater connectivity to the city of Asheville. Through that lens, the lack of transparency around the project is concerning to many community members.

We understand that UNCA is in a difficult situation and is seeking creative solutions to weather the current financial crisis. As a coalition of neighbors representing hundreds of interested supporters, we hope to work in partnership to develop a long-term plan for the use of the UNCA urban forest that benefits the university and our community, aligns with the Five Points Neighborhood Plan, and honors the City of Asheville’s vision for investing in climate resilience and supporting healthy communities. 

We are eager to collaborate with university leadership to explore how we can work together to advance the university’s mission while ensuring the long-term sustainability of green spaces like the UNCA urban forest. 

The Friends of the Woods respectfully and urgently ask that UNCA PAUSE ALL WORK until it takes measures to listen to and address the cares and concerns of affected stakeholders, including UNCA students, faculty, and the entire Asheville community.