Stadium Woods Stewardship Plan

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Forest Ecological Assessment
Biohabitats, Inc (Biohabitats, Inc, Baltimore, Maryland, 2012-05)
A 2012 forest ecological assessment of the Stadium Woods Forest at Virginia Tech. This report examines the forest structure, composition, overall health, ecological processes and other factors to assesses the ecological value of the approximately 11 acre woodland.
Athletic Practice Facility Site Evaluation Committee Final Report
Randolph, John; Bork, Dean R.; DiSalvo, Rick; Dodson, Kara; Gabbard, Tom; Karpanty, Sarah M.; Keown, Arthur J.; Killough, Larry; LaClair, Leigh; Lyons, Maxine; Reynolds, Glenn; Walters, Jeffrey R.; Wilkinson, Emily; Wise, Chris; Wiseman, P. Eric (Virginia Tech APFSEC Committee, 2012-05-30)
The Athletic Practice Facility Site Evaluation Committee (APFSEC) was established in January 2012 to help Virginia Tech resolve a controversy surrounding the proposal to build a 2.1 acre indoor athletic practice facility in part of a designated Environmental Greenway known as Stadium Woods. After four months of data gathering and biweekly meetings, the Committee recognized that its siting decision was a matter not simply about whether or not to build in the woods, but also about the design of the campus built environment, disruption and mitigation of existing and prospective campus facilities and uses, and accommodating the development of the athletic facility at a suitable location and a workable cost. The demonstrated social importance of Stadium Woods became the determining factor in the Committee’s deliberations and the consensus report. This summary and recommendations introduces the issue, describes the Committee’s process, discusses the site evaluation, and offers five recommendations:

Designate Stadium Woods as a Reserve and develop a protection, management, and use planfor the Woods.

Relocate the proposed facility site from the Woods site to the Washington Street tennis court site and develop a site orientation and design that considers cost, aesthetics, mitigation of existing uses, and minimal impact on the Woods.

Commence construction of replacement tennis courts and roller hockey rink displaced by the Washington St. site before the existing facilities are closed.

Allocate incremental costs associated with the site relocation, which are a measure of the preservation value of the Woods, to funding sources other than Athletics and Recreational Sports.

Review procedures for assessing variance with the Master Plan to safeguard against future controversies of this type.
The History of a Proposed Indoor Training Facility and Stadium Woods
Seiler, John R. (2012-06-21)
A history of how a unique white oak old-growth urban forest unofficially known as Stadium Woods located on the campus of Virginia Tech has been recognized as having historical and ecological significance. The 11 plus acre white oak dominant forest remnant contains numerous trees over 36 inches in diameter, indicating many trees greater than 200 - 300 years in age. A controversial proposal to build an indoor athletic training facility on portions of the woodland initiated the appointment, by the Virginia Tech President, of the Athletic Practice Facility Site Evaluation Committee (APFSEC) and an environmental consultant ecological assessment of the Stadium Woods natural land area. APFSEC gathered its findings into a report and presented a set of recommendations to address the building proposal debate.
Stadium Woods Preliminary Use and Management Plan
Cross, Aubrey; Goldsworthy, Julia; Hetzel, Erica; Largen, Erica; Lopez-Gomez, Pilar; Neal, Emily (Virginia Tech, UAP 4654 Environmental Planning Studio: Dr. John Randolph, 2012-12)
The Preliminary Use and Management Plan for Stadium Woods seeks to balance academic, social, recreational, environmental, and use values of Stadium Woods and its stakeholders currently and into the future. These values are derived from Stadium Woods stakeholders through a survey and subsequent statistical analysis. This work was prepared by Virginia Tech UAP 4354 Environmental Planning Studio students as a guide for university committees and others charged with developing the final Stadium Woods use and management plan. Recommendations are made based on primary and secondary evidence that identifies important campus uses and resource benefits of Stadium Woods. Specific management recommendations are made for each identified use or resource area.
Forest Management Plan, Virginia Tech Stadium Woods, 5/3/2013
Diag, Frank Jr.; Foley, Ian; Mullaney, Ryan (2013-05-03)
The 2013 Forest Management Plan, Virginia Tech Stadium Woods written by Virginia Tech students consists of a forest stand assessment that analyzes the vegetation, species composition, species distribution, and diameter distribution of the Stadium Woods old-growth forest remnant. The analyses of this technical report include biomass calculations, carbon content, and soils within Stadium Woods. The Stadium Woods remnant was a topic of concern after a plans were announced to build an Indoor Athletics Practice Facility with in the forest remnant. Stakeholders are identified and described and management recommendations are presented. A brief history of the Stadium Woods forest is also described.
Review - Institutions of Higher Education: Old-Growth Forest Fragment and Urban Tree Care Plans
Walters, Rodney S. (Virginia Tech, College of Natural Resources and Environment, 2015-03-16)
Extensive focused research of universities’ and colleges’ urban forest and remnant forest areas yielded valuable insights and comparisons into relevant efforts benefiting the Stadium Woods Stewardship Plan. Positive successes and valuable lessons learned through failures and restarts helped optimize the content of the Stadium Woods Stewardship Plan. Research and implementation methods utilized to conduct reviews, describe findings, and provide conclusions by the various sources in this document aid in the formation of issues and associated resolutions for Virginia Tech’s (VT) Stadium Woods. The descriptions of these varied forest remnants appear to be of lower ecological health, to be younger in age, and to have smaller trees than Virginia Tech’s Stadium Woods. However, the application of their collective approaches greatly assisted the research for VT’s Plan. Additionally, the uniqueness of the Stadium Woods (SW) effort has the potential to pay it forward to both current projects and those planned for future implementation. This document’s logical progression takes advantage of three critical categories of information gathered from the diversity of the included resources:

Old-growth Forest Manager Responses
Peer Institution Urban Forest Plans
Natural Land Area, Forest Stewardship/Management Plans, & Information From Higher Education Institutions
Conclusions captured in this document include input from communities exhibiting strong emotions resulting from intra-community controversy. This required development of formal processes, the formation of advisory councils/committees, documenting process management procedures, and the use of consensus-building activities. The use of Internal Conservation Easements, Student based projects, Community Volunteer Programs, and Summer Intern job services, all played a role in natural land area protection. This allowed college administrations to avoid the considerable restrictions, management costs, and transaction fees associated with the placement of the land into a formal conservation easement. These natural land area plans offer a way forward, allowing maintenance and stewardship activities to take place. Invasive plant species control is, by far, the most common concern and is usually listed as a primary objective. Safety, protection, education, research, and restoration are also listed as major considerations and objectives. Proactive managers include storm response action guidelines in their procedures. Some plans include memorial tree programs and encourage public donations for funding. The old-growth forest and natural land area management plans that appear to be successful, tend to embrace community participation, find common goals, and forge partnerships. The most successful old-growth forest are professionally managed and usually have some financial structure in place to administer and physically maintain the natural land areas. Managers who embrace positive relationships with community leaders and work in conjunction with them to increase public engagement, increase awareness, and involve community and student volunteers stand out as exemplary in their efforts.
Stewardship Plan for Virginia Tech's Old-Growth Forest near Lane Stadium
Walters, Rodney S. (Virginia Tech, 2016-08)
The Stewardship Plan for Virginia Tech’s Old-Growth near Lane Stadium is a thorough compilation of essential tasks and prioritized recommendations for the protection and posterity of the urban old-growth forest patch, known unofficially as Stadium Woods. This Forest Stewardship Plan includes executive oversight input from a joint venture between Virginia Tech’s Vice President of Administration and the College of Natural Resources and Environment’s Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation. Using the initial findings of the ad hoc Athletic Practice Facility Site Evaluation Committee, this Forest Stewardship Plan provides recommendations to sustain Stadium Woods as a multifunctional, interconnected, and integrated forest that functions as a green infrastructure facility for Virginia Tech and the Town of Blacksburg. This Forest Stewardship Plan is effective in minimizing human impacts and maintaining the forest’s functionality as a high quality ecosystem that provides maximum benefits while incurring minimum costs over time.
Virginia Tech’s Old-Growth Forest Tree Risk Assessment Report 2021
King, Jamie (Virginia Tech, 2021)
Throughout late 2020 and early 2021, Jamie King performed tree risk assessments for targeted trees along the most highly utilized paths through and adjacent to the Old-Growth Forest by Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech. The trees were analyzed concerning potential targets within direct vicinity for a 1-year time frame. Any risk revealed by these assessments shall be mitigated as soon as is practical. Many of the pruning practices recommended for risk reduction also support tree preservation by limiting deadwood and tree and branch failures that may create wounds and expose trees to decay organisms.

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