Photo by Rick Meilan

With more than 9,000 acres of timberland, the van Eck Forest Project in northern California and Oregon qualifies as Purdue’s largest classroom. This summer, FNR 460 students toured the California Redwoods near Eureka with students from Sweden and North Carolina State University.

An investment banker from New York City who owned thousands of acres of forest throughout the world saw potential in Purdue Agriculture to take on an important issue: the environment. This donor made a gift seven years ago to Purdue Agriculture with the intention of enhancing the quality of trees, and his gift is doing that … and more.

In October 2001, Fred M. van Eck donated 2,039 acres of redwood timberland in northern California and 7,200 acres of Douglas fir timberland in Oregon to Purdue’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. This gift was designated for research at Purdue’s Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center (HTIRC).

The center was established in 1998 as a collaborative research endeavor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Purdue, and many others. It is the only center of its kind in the world, and it works to ensure that the quality and quantity of hardwood trees will continually increase.

Though the van Eck name may now be familiar on campus, he never actually visited Purdue. In August 1999, van Eck heard the HTIRC director, Charles Michler, give a presentation to the Walnut Council. After many questions and several follow-up conversations, van Eck decided to endow his West Coast land to Purdue Agriculture.

As highlighted at the Indiana State Fair in August, trees are important to Indiana’s economy. The state’s tree and hardwood industries earn more than $17 billion each year, with the sale of trees bringing in $174 million a year. The Indiana hardwood tree industry provides 130,000 jobs for Indiana residents, and it is the nation’s No. 1 producer of wood office furniture and ranks second in the production of hardwood veneer and plywood.

Purdue’s redwood timberland property might be based in California, but the van Eck Forest is a working forest with direct benefits to Indiana. Among the many objectives of the forest are biodiversity, protection of wildlife habitats, and carbon sequestration, which refers to the process by which trees absorb carbon from greenhouse gases in the air.

Recently, the van Eck Forest made headlines for the sale of carbon dioxide emission reductions, or carbon credits, to the general public. Buying carbon credits essentially allows the purchaser to offset his or her personal impact on the environment, known as a carbon footprint.

On both the California and Oregon properties, timber is harvested for sale. The income directly supports hardwood tree improvement research done by students and faculty at Purdue.

Photo by Jon Remucal/Pacific Forest Trust

Foresters verify carbon stores within the van Eck Forest, which is expected to permanently obsorb more than 500,000 tons of CO2 over a 100-year period.

These profits not only make research possible but also fund the van Eck Scholarships for graduate students. In 2008, the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources offered 10 van Eck Scholarships to some of the most gifted students in the country. The recipients are National Merit Scholars, graduated magna cum laude or are in the top 10 percent of graduate students across the country. Rob Swihart, head of the department, says the lifeblood of any research and discovery program is the ability to attract great students. “The quality of students who study hardwood tree improvement as postgraduates at Purdue is directly attributable to the van Eck gift,” he says.

The income from the timberland properties also established two endowed chairs in forest biology, including a deferred chair made possible by William Bindley of Indianapolis. Neither of the chairs has yet been assigned.

Laurie Wayburn, co-founder and president of Pacific Forest Trust (www.pacificforest.org), says, “Fred van Eck wanted to demonstrate the compatibility of commerce and the environment. The land is a legacy that will continue to grow and protect the creatures he cared about while providing a sustainable income for student support.”

The generosity of the van Eck family demonstrates how Purdue Agriculture can give meaningful expression to the values held by a donor while advancing the mission of the university and, in this case, reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Contact Agricultural Development at
(800) 718-0094 or agdevelopment@purdue.edu

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Tickets are available for the Purdue Ag Fish Fry, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Toyota Blue Ribbon Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

You can order tickets, priced at $20 each, by contacting Debby Bible at debby@purdue.edu or (765) 494-8593.

Activities get underway at 9:30 a.m. with the annual Ag Forecast at the Old National Bank Grand Hall. Doors to the Fish Fry will open at 10:30 a.m., and the program will start at 11:30 a.m.

As in past years, the Fish Fry is a fish fry in name only. Indiana Packers Corporation donates pork tenderloin for the event.

Child care is available for those who register in advance.