Preserving campus natural areas: Case reports from Clemson and WVU, including an Administrator’s perspective

University experimental forests and natural areas have value for conservation, recreation, learning, and research. These values are influenced by degree of naturalness, contrast and connectivity with surrounding ecosystems, the history of the university’s faculty, and the history of the university’s administrative structures and policies.  We will explore how these attributes influence past, present, and future values of university forests using the 7,100-ha Clemson University Forest, and the 37-ha West Virginia University Core Arboretum.  Because of national trends to protect green spaces, the values and uses of these two forests are converging despite differences in size, history, region, and use.