Conservation Groups Nearing Deals for 150,000 Acres in Ohio

By Steve Bennish sbennish@DaytonDailyNews.com

A coalition of three national conservation groups and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources are closing in on potential deals to buy up to 150,000 acres of forest scattered throughout southeast Ohio.

“This is an opportunity that won’t come our way again in our lifetimes,” said Randall Edwards, spokesman for the Nature Conservancy. “It’s a watershed time for the state.”

State forests, parks and wildlife areas adjoin many of the parcels, so acquisitions could expand state-controlled or private lands for forest conservation, wildlife restoration and recreation.

Representatives from ODNR, the Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land and the Conservation Fund are developing a priority list, said Scott Zody, ODNR’s deputy director for Recreation and Resource Management.

Concern that acreage could end up one day being developed has some conservationists eager to cut a deal now, as are hunters and recreation advocates who have said Ohio would benefit from larger areas of public-access forest.

A controversy is brewing nationally over the fate of large forest landscapes that have been historically owned and managed by private timber companies. Those lands often not only benefited the timber industry, but also offered advantages by being open to hunting or other public recreational use.

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