The danger of a 16,000-acre forest in southeast Ohio being sold to developers or broken up into small private plots has state officials so worried they want to buy it.
For the past 50 years, the Raccoon Ecological Management Area in Vinton County has been the site of timber-growth research by government and private scientists and is a key location for forestry education. It is also prime wildlife and hunting grounds.
The forest is up for sale by Escanaba Timber LLC, which supplies pulp for paper production. State officials fear that if the forest is sold, the land could be broken up into small private plots, public access could be denied, and the state could lose its research rights.
"It would be a tragic loss of scientific research," said Andy Ware, assistant chief of the Ohio Division of Forestry.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has told Escanaba Timber it is interested in buying the property if the state can acquired it at a fair and reasonable price. Officials would not say whether an offer has been made or if price has been discussed.
Brad Homeier, chief operating officer for Escanaba, confirmed Tuesday the company is looking to sell all 146,000 acres of forest land it owns in Ohio. But he would not discuss details or comment on the state's interest.
Ware said the Raccoon forest is the largest privately held tract of forest land in the state. If Ohio purchased it, it would be the fourth-largest state-owned forest, behind Shawnee, Zaleski and Tar Hollow state forests. The department currently owns or manages 500,000 acres, most of it forest land in southeast Ohio.
Ware said the forest is crucial to the state's efforts to study long-range genetic effects on trees, research that can take decades to come to fruition. The research is invaluable in helping the state determine how to manage the 8 million acres of forest in Ohio, he said.
"It's not like this research can be done in Idaho or Florida," Ware said. "This is the premier forest education site in Ohio."
Ware said losing the forest and having it broken up would be part of a trend of wooded areas being sold into smaller parcels. There are about 410,000 private owners of forest land in Ohio, up from 330,000 a decade ago.
The Buckeye Forest Council, a nonprofit group whose mission is to protect Ohio's native forests, said it would support the state purchase of the forest.
The fragmentation of forest land also makes it less desirable for hikers, fisherman, bird watchers and hunters. Having more smaller parcels, for example, discourages hunters, which must get permission from each owner to hunt on their property.
That can lead to an overabundance of deer, which damage crops and young trees as well as create hazards for motorists, said Steve Gray, chief of the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
He said the state is interested in buying Escanaba's forest lands or seeing that another timber company purchases them.
"We'd like to see status quo," Gray said. "Wildlife management and timber companies get along. Many times, what is good for wildlife is also good for timber production."
He said the department would need financial support from the General Assembly or private partners to buy Raccoon or other forest land from Escanaba. The Ohio chapter of The Nature Conservancy has talked with the state about such a partnership.
"We have an interest in seeing this Escanaba land stay as large tracts of forest, whether it's owned by timber companies or owned by the state or owned by us," said spokesman Randy Edwards.Associated Press via Central Ohio
