For decades, people have hiked and picnicked in a 17,500-acre forest that hugs Lake Hartwell across from Clemson University’s campus.

It is a lush greenbelt used for university research and a favorite of locals and students alike.

But news the university might allow development on about 200 acres of the forest is causing a stir in Clemson, a once-sleepy college town under increasing growth pressures.

Allowing construction could create a precedent for developing other parcels of the university’s lakeside forest, critics say.

All told, Clemson owns about 100 miles of waterfront on Lake Hartwell, one of the Upstate’s most popular and rapidly developing lakes. Most of that land is part of the 17,500-acre Clemson Experimental Forest.

This morning, the university and a consulting team will discuss with the public conceptual plans for the nearly 200 acres in the Experimental Forest and about 75 acres nearby.

“These are lakefront lands that I’m sure demand a premium, being adjacent to the university — but what’s next?” said Greenville’s Mark Augspurger, who regularly hikes and bikes in the forest. “Just because it’s lakefront doesn’t mean it has to be developed.”

Clemson president James Barker said the university has no immediate plans to sell or develop the land. To allow private development, Clemson would need permission from the federal government, gained through a lengthy process. That is because the land was acquired for public use under a federal program dating to the 1930s.

Nonetheless, Clemson does want to explore other uses for the property, Barker said. Consultants from the nonprofit Urban Land Institute studied the site this week.

“Clemson has a land endowment, and the question we have put on the table is, ‘What is the wisest use of this?’” Barker said. “We need some guiding principles.”

Clemson has sold land before. In 2001, the university sold 300 of its 830 acres in Northeast Richland County for the Village at Sandhill development.

Clemson’s look at future uses for the lakefront land comes as Gov. Mark Sanford is urging agencies to sell surplus property.

The proceeds from the sale of the forestland could not be used to help balance Clemson’s budget. Federal law dictates the money must be used to acquire more forestland or to manage existing land.

Clemson uses the land to conduct forest, wildlife and water quality research. One section of the forest contains trees more than 150 years old. The 12-acre site is one of the least disturbed in South Carolina.

Birds that migrate from Central and South America also use the forest, the university reports. And the forest contains some American chestnut trees, which were virtually wiped out by disease in the 20th century.

The land is sprinkled with 100 miles of trails and dirt roads and includes a nearby YMCA complex with a public beach.

“There is some anxiety about this; it’s totally unprecedented,” said Clemson Mayor Larry Abernathy, who is equally concerned about losing the YMCA land. “Everybody’s kid in town grew up on that property. It’s a special place.”

Many Clemson residents are generally concerned about unchecked growth, he said. The city fought successfully against allowing a Wal-Mart in town several years ago.

Despite Clemson’s assertion that federal law makes it difficult to develop a large part of the forest, the Chattooga Conservancy and the S.C. Wildlife Federation remain skeptical.

Buzz Williams, director of the Chattooga Conservancy, said laws can be changed to make developing the land easier and more profitable for the school.

“As soon as they see an opening, they are going to start liquidating some of that property,” Williams said. “It’s awful tempting with the university being low on money.”

Williams cited a bill proposed last year by Congressman Gresham Barrett, a Republican who represents the 3rd District, that could have made development on Lake Hartwell easier.

The proposal, since abandoned, would have transferred undeveloped federal buffer land along Lakes Hartwell, Russell and Thurmond to surrounding counties, which many complained would have eased shoreline development restrictions. Barrett said he only wanted to spur development on Lake Russell, to the southeast of Hartwell.