Opposition to the proposed sale of Hofmann Forest continues to grow as efforts to highlight potential impacts spread across social media and a lawsuit proceeds in court. A new online petition on MoveOn.org has garnered more than 7,200 signatures since it was created on July 17 by the Save Hofmann Forest coalition fighting to stop the sale of the property.
“We’ve seen it grow from 3,000 to around 7,000 in just the past couple of days,” said Ron Sutherland, a conservation scientist for the Wildlands Network and one of the leaders in the opposition efforts. A previous petition launched last year on ipetitions.com is up to about 2,000 signatures.
Sutherland said the benefit of the MoveOn.org petition is that it continues to be sent out to larger and larger groups in North Carolina. Reaching out to as many people as possible is an important part of the effort, he said. “We need people to understand the big picture,” he said.
At the heart of concerns is the proposed sale of the 79,000-acre research forest located in Onslow and Jones counties, the largest state-owned forest in North Carolina, to a private agribusiness based in Illinois.
N.C. State University officials have said little will change with the property under the pending $150 million sale; but opponents fear otherwise, citing a leaked prospectus indicating the land will be converted to agriculture cropland and potentially commercial or residential development.
From the Jacksonville Daily News: https://www.jdnews.com/news/local/hofmann-forest-sale-opposition-continues-to-grow-1.354534?page=1