Letter: Keeping UNCA’s forest would benefit city

I am relatively new to Asheville, having moved here from Miami in 2021. I am still a board member with Artists in Residence in the Everglades, a residency program that partners with the Everglades National Park to give resident artists access to the knowledge held there.

One of the lessons I learned in this process is that these parks grew from the 19th-century conservation movement. During that time — and to this day — there was an assumption that the nature one should save and preserve had to be “pure” or untouched by people. Thus, when the national parks were established in this spirit, the federal government actively removed people living with nature from those lands because they did not fit the ideal. In the Everglades, Gladesmen had lived in the difficult ecosystem for generations, mingling with Native Americans, sustaining life, economies and unique cultures. All of them were removed. They were too messy.

Urban forests prove a different case — that forests can coexist with and enrich densely populated places. They are dynamic spaces in which human activities can be assets to the forest’s and community’s health and resilience. Regular human disturbances can create the conditions for certain species of mushrooms to grow. Regular brush clearing and thinning can help forests resist fires, and controlling invasive species can generate practices that can be adopted more broadly around the community to support native plant species. Volunteers learn about the care of the forest and each other. There are place-making and psychological benefits of the urban forest to the city. The opportunities an urban forest affords are in fact far more than the limited scope other development opportunities may have.

Let’s play out whom the development would actually serve. A soccer field, for instance, only serves those who play soccer; otherwise, these fields mostly stay empty. Field sports, unfortunately, have mostly been privatized, so the limits on the use value of the land are even further constrained. Using the land to build more buildings for the university? Is what the university gains in such an endeavor really worth what they would lose in the habitat that already exists in the forest they have?

The present forest allows the university to be a leader in forest management in a region that sorely needs this leadership. Following Hurricane Helene, public and private property holders face extraordinary costs for mitigating risks from downed or standing dead trees on their land. The open tree canopy will allow invasive plants to take over unless checked. University and institutional problem-solving and leadership in this kind of situation can make an enormous difference.

— Tyler Emerson-Dorsch
Asheville