Facilities & Forests

FER Home : The Department : Facilities & Forests

The Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources (FER) is headquartered in the College of Natural Resources (CNR) on the NC State University campus in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Within CNR, Jordan Hall houses the main administrative offices and extensive classroom space and teaching laboratories. Biltmore Hall contains faculty, staff, and graduate student offices plus laboratories and a computer lab. All teaching areas are equipped with state-of-the-art technological support.

FER’s on-campus facilities also include:

Natural Resources Library
General microcomputer lab
Center For Earth Observation (geographic information systems and remote sensing labs)
Various analytical and biotechnology facilities
Photo interpretation lab
Extensive herbarium and a wood sample collection

These facilities are augmented by a unique landbase that supports FER's teaching, education, demonstration and research activities.

A Unique Landbase

In 1929, FER's forerunner — the Department of Forestry — was established under the guidance of Dr. J.V. Hofmann. That same year, the non-profit North Carolina Forestry Foundation was also founded, primarily to secure a landbase for the department that could serve as an outdoor laboratory in support of a forestry education.

Just as the Department of Forestry has grown into the College of Natural Resources, the Foundation's landbase has expanded significantly over the years. Today, the Foundation is responsible for management of 85,000 acres contained in the Hosely, Goodwin, Gates and Hofmann Forests. CNR staff take direct responsibility for the management of an additional 10,000 acres in the Hill, Schenck, Hope Valley and Bull Neck Swamp tracts.

These forest and wetland areas provide students and faculty with living laboratories for their academic and research work. Many of the areas also generate income from forest management proceeds that can be used to provide students with funding for either their labor or scholarship efforts.

To further explore the CNR educational landbase, please click on the map or one of the links below:

Landbase Available for Educational Support in the College of Natural Resources at NC State University

Facilities Map

Lands Managed by CNR Staff (~10,000 acres)

Bull Neck Swamp Research Forest is located on North Carolina's Albemarle Sound and covers 5,500 acres.
Hill Demonstration Forest is a 2,450-acre forest in suburbanizing Durham County. It is the site of Camp Slocum, where all rising juniors in FER's Forestry Program spend 10 weeks of intensive summer field work.
Hope Valley Experimental Forest is a 345 acre tract located in Chatham County, NC near Lake Jordan.
Schenck Memorial Forest is a 300 acre property located in highly developed western Wake County about 10 minutes from the NC State campus.

Lands Managed by the NC Forestry Foundation (~85,000 acres)

Gates County Forest is a 3,800 acre property located on the last major bend in the Chowan River in northeastern North Carolina just west of the Great Dismal Swamp in Gates county, NC.
James Goodwin Forest in Moore County near Carthage, NC includes 1,169 acres formerly used as cotton fields and rundown woodlots.
Hofmann Forest is a working industrial-scale tract of nearly 80,000 contiguous acres located in the coastal region of North Carolina adjacent to the city of Jacksonville and spanning Jones and Onslow counties.
Hosley Forest is a 252 acre Franklin County property and one of NC State's newer forest acquisitions.

Living Laboratories

The NC State Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology is a field research organization headquartered in Raleigh with laboratory outposts across North Carolina. The Center sponsors research on topics range from freshwater to coastal marine ecosystems.
Pamlico Aquaculture Field Laboratory is located in Aurora, NC about two and a half hours east of Raleigh. It is built in a Pamlico River drainage area, making it ideal for aquaculture research and and extension efforts, including fish biology studies and related natural resource issues.
The Center for Marine Sciences and Technology is a 51,000 square foot marine laboratory located in Morehead City, NC that is owned and operated by NC State University. It fosters multidisciplinary studies among research scientists, educators and extension specialists from various NCSU colleges and departments.