Thompson Woods could soon be considered an extension of the classroom if a group of professors and environmentalists have their way.

The debate over whether the woods should be considered a preserve or an environmental ecosystem has been an ongoing discussion among university members for many years.

The woods operate as a preserved park, but a recent Graduate and Professional Student Council petition addressed to the SIU Board of Trustees aims to turn the woods into a “teaching laboratory.” (The petition can be found online at tinyurl.com/ThompsonWoodsLetter.)

The petition requests the board “empower a committee of faculty from the science departments to assume control of future management decisions regarding Thompson Woods.”

Kevin Horn, a graduate student in zoology who proposed the petition to GPSC, said the committee would consist of faculty from the Departments of Zoology, Plant Biology and Forestry and the Center for Ecology.

“The big motivation for this is there seems to be no publically available management plan,” Horn said. “I know some people in this department and in others have asked, ‘What is the long term plan for (the woods)? What’s going on?’ We don’t seem to be able to get an answer.”

Daniel Nickrent, a professor in plant biology, said the petition went online in early March.

Horn said more than 100 people have digitally signed the petition, including students, faculty, staff, community members and alumni.

Chancellor Rita Cheng said she has not seen the petition as of Thursday, but said she had serious doubts about turning the park into a pseudo-classroom for students to study the environment.

“My concern is that we have appointed people on the campus (to manage the woods),” Cheng said. “Our students have multiple places to study natural habitat in southern Illinois.”

Horn said GPSC addressed the petition to the board as opposed to the administration for two reasons.

“Number one, we’re asking them to re-designate a large portion of university property,” he said. “Number two, for this to be a long-term plan, it needs to survive multiple administrations. So it needs to come from above the administration.”

The petition states the letter is to be sent to the board before its April 17 meeting.

Misty Whittington, executive secretary of the board, said in an email Friday the petition “has not come to the board office yet, nor (has she) heard the subject come up with anyone.”

Horn said the woods could not be a teaching ecosystem if it is being managed as a park.

Cheng said the Thompson family, who sold the woods to the university under several conditions, said the woods should be managed as a park and architectural landscape when the university bought the land for $6,250 from Lavinia Thompson in 1940.

The Thompson family wanted the woods to always remain a part of the campus and to be well maintained, she said.

“Although there have been decades of controversy, I believe we have sought to honor the family’s wishes,” Cheng said. “We just need to be good stewards of not only Mr. Thompson’s property but Delyte Morris’ vision of the campus.”

Cheng said the university has a large grounds crew tasked with managing the woods. She hired an arborist in 2013 to better manage trees and to decipher what should be planted.

“One time when I was first here, for example, I asked about a tree and they said, ‘No, no, no that would be invasive and would take over the woods,’” Cheng said. “That’s why you have experts.”

Nickrent said non-native plants and cultivars have been planted throughout the woods and campus.

He said for example, several halesias, commonly know as Carolina silverbells, were planted in the woods in 2011.

“That tree is probably a commercial market of 400 to 500 dollars for the one tree,” Nickrent said. “Many of them died.”

Frank Anderson, an associate professor in zoology, said planting invasive species is detrimental to the natural ecosystem.

“You can make biological arguments like, ‘Oh, well a lot of the stuff that is in there is non-native,’ it’s from Asia or wherever and you want to get that stuff out of there,” Anderson said. “Those are fine arguments but it’s hard to make those arguments when you’re planting things in there deliberately that are non-native. One of the goals is to get rid of non-native plants, why are you planting non-natives in there and spending money to do so?”

Karen Midden, a professor in agricultural sciences and a landscape architect who grew up in Carbondale near the woods, said there is an impasse between the two sides as to which plants are considered invasive.

Midden has been on committees in the past that discuss how the woods are managed. The primary goal of previous plans was to keep invasive species out.

She said the woods have been managed well but input from other departments could be resourceful.

“(The management plan) should remain where it is currently, with someone overseeing it as an umbrella,” she said. “I do agree there should be a management plan and that it should be comprehensive as they’ve done in the past.”

Horn said the petition also addresses clearing the woods of damage caused by the derecho in 2009. He said the woods did require cleanup and removal of dead trees, and the administration said this is what they were doing, but seemed to continue unnecessary mowing.

Cheng said every fall for three years the university has planted about 300 trees chosen by the forestry faculty. She said in the past the woods have been controlled through control burn, mowing and herbicides.

Horn said the woods become a less valuable teaching source when cleared, which is minimizing ecosystems for certain species.

“They’re removing habitat for the small reptiles, small mammals, invertebrates,” he said. “So when we take the students out there, there is less to show them.”

Horn said if invertebrate habitat destruction continues, the woods will have less songbirds, which are an attractive feature to most on campus.

Anderson said he is unable to refer to the woods as often as he used to in his animal diversity course because of clearing.

“I will frequently talk about a particular group of animals like millipedes or land snails or something else, and oh, we happen to have these right here in Thompson Woods,” Anderson said. “I really can’t say that so much anymore because the woods aren’t what they used to be. A lot of the habitat that was there just isn’t there anymore.”

Cheng said she is always open to suggestions and comments regarding the woods, but had not received any as of Thursday.

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @lukenozicka, or at 536-3311 ext. 286.