Combined with nearby Zaleski State Forest, the acquisition creates a landscape-size conservation forest parcel of more than 40,000 acres.
It’s one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the United States, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Sean Logan said, and home to more than 50 years of ongoing forest research. The state’s largest known population of bobcats lives there as do black bears, timber rattlesnakes, cerulean warblers and rare plant species.
ODNR said Tuesday, Oct. 27, that it expects to complete purchase of the property by July 2010 and will manage it as the renamed “Vinton Furnace Experimental State Forest.”
It is “an invaluable asset for Ohio,” U.S. Sen. George Voinovich said. “I am pleased that the private, state, and federal effort to protect the forest will be a success. It goes to show that when we harmonize our environment, energy and economy, everyone benefits.”
The bulk of the funding, 71 percent, is from private and federal sources:
There’s $1.85 million provided by American Electric Power through a federal Consent Decree through the nonprofit The Conservation Fund;
$1.5 million from Rockies Express Pipeline mitigation funds made available through the US Fish & Wildlife Service;
$5.1 million from the USDA Forest Service in Forest Legacy funds;
$1.1 million in federal Land & Water Conservation Funds;
$1.7 million through Division of Wildlife funds;
And $3.9 million from already appropriated state capital funds.
The purchase doesn’t include mineral rights, but the state and federal government own the rights under a large portion of the property, state Forester David Lytle said. One site in the far southwest part of the property has been mined for coal and will be reclaimed, he noted. Any new mine would have to undergo environmental approvals.
“Vinton Furnace is one of the most important forest research and demonstration sites east of the Mississippi River,” Logan said.
It is used by the scientific community for active research, for training by Ohio’s $15 billion wood industry, and as a popular hunting destination for sportsmen and women from across the state, he said.
“Over the past four years the property has changed ownership several times and this agreement will forever protect this forest as a great ecological, recreational and economic resource for the people of Ohio.”
Logan said Ohio will soon sign an Intent to Purchase agreement with the owners of the forest, an investment fund managed by The Forestland Group, LLC, to acquire the 3,250-acre Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest, as well as an additional 12,599 surrounding acres known as the Raccoon Ecological Management Area or REMA.
The Forestland Group is a North Carolina-based timberland investment management company that manages 3.4 million acres in 20 states.
Logan credited The Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund as having played key roles in acquiring federal and private funds toward the purchase. He added that Voinovich and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, as well as state Rep. Zack Space, D-Dover, helped secure federal funding.
Vinton Furnace has been dedicated to forest research since 1952. The research was formalized between Mead Corp. and the USDA Forest Service in 1965. Mead sold off its forest lands in 2005.
The USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station currently employs a manager and two forest technicians at the Vinton Furnace to assist with care and maintenance.
Next year ODNR will seek state Controlling Board approval to release $3.9 million in already appropriated funds to match with $11.2 million in private and federal funds to close on the property by July 2010.
The last time Ohio created a state forest was in December 1998 with the designation of Beaver Creek State Forest.
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