Quote Originally Posted by vtgreg View Post
Well, considering an indoor practice facility would be used during inclement weather and when inclement weather rolls in during practice, any additional time required to get to the facility could prove dangerous. Secondly, the tennis courts are an area of the university that is currently used on a regular basis. The stadium woods have a few people roaming through there on the occasional basis but the tennis courts are used far more frequently. From an aesthetics perspective, having the practice facility right on Washington St is not ideal unless you significantly increase the budget from what is currently slated.

So in summary, it inconveniences the football team, it inconveniences the students and it would cost significantly more money to put the practice facility there. Hopefully that is a sufficient answer to that extremely simple question. On the flip side, other than being really old, what value do those specific trees (they would be leaving over 2/3 of the stadium woods) provide to offset the above reasons?
Thanks for making a logical comment about the inclement weather. I'm for saving the trees. However, I can at least understand the value of having an indoor facility immediately adjacent to the outdoor field.

Crooked Road, the concerns about location are not about the additional 60 second walk before practice. They relate to relocating a practice in as short a period of time when inclement weather strikes. With limited practice time mandated by the NCAA, every minute counts. From a logistical standpoint, moving 80+ people, pads, equipment, etc. would take much more than 60 seconds to go over the hill and through the trees as opposed to an adjacent structure. It's not a lot more time, but hopefully you can see the difference as opposed to simply saying our players are lazy.

That said, I am still for saving the trees. If the tennis courts are the big draw, put some on top of the new facility. Based on the master plan, they are moving to the golf course in the near future anyway, so I fail to see how they serve as a valid rallying cry.

More importantly, the old growth forest is an academic resource, and one that is not replicated in the ~100yo national forest nearby. This is a unique ecosystem that is invaluable to the Forestry Department. As a percentage of overall students, that may be small, but so is the football team. Aside from aesthetic benefits, the woods are also a greenway with storm water retention purposes. Cutting down a third of the woods fill functionally decrease the stand by half, and opens the door for Tech to develop any or all of its greenways.