Dysart Woods is the largest remaining tract of

old growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

in southeastern

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. It is located in the

unglaciated Allegheny Plateau The Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau is located in an arc around southeastern Ohio, West Virginia, into western Pennsylvania and a small portion of southwestern New York State. This area is a dissected plateau, characterized by sandstone, shale, an ...

in Belmont County almost five miles (8 km) from the village of Belmont on

Ohio State Route 147 State Route 147 (SR 147) is an east-west state highway in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. Its eastern terminus is at State Route 7 near Bellaire, with its western terminus at SR 78 in Noble County, Ohio. The highway passes near ...

History

The tract currently known as Dysart Woods was once part of a plot owned by Orin B. Dysart. Upon his death the property passed to his nieces, Gladys Dysart McGaughy and Margaret Dysart. The nieces held the land for years, rejecting attractive offers from lumber companies and coal companies to eventually sell the land to the

Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

for a much smaller sum.

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

eventually acquired the land and a formal dedication was held 1968-05-25

The Woods

The area is currently an outdoor laboratory run by Ohio University. The property was designated a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...

in 1967.

White oak The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera '' ...

Red Oak The genus Oak, ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many List of the largest genera of flowering plants, large genera, is Taxonomic rank#Ranks in botany, divided into subgenus, subgen ...

and

Tulip Poplar ''Liriodendron tulipifera''—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus ''Liriodendron'' (the other ...

trees are a few of the seventeen species recorded in the woods. Several of the trees are 300–400 years old and several range over in diameter. The woods contain two foot trails (marked red and blue) which wind through the woods. The trails are lightly marked and are the only sign of human interference, although nothing is deeply disturbed so as to allow nature to take its course. The farmhouse located at the entrance of the woods was once the homestead of the Dysarts. When Ohio University took over the woods, the farmhouse was converted into a stopping point for visitors and students alike. There has been controversy over plans for underground

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

by Ohio Valley Coal Company for several years. On March 5, 2007 the Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the OVCC to allow mining under and adjacent to Dysart Woods. In 2010, Ohio Valley Coal Company excavated a room-and-pillar coal mine 500 feet under the woods. Within a year after the mining was complete, half of the old-growth trees -- mostly white oaks -- had died, due to the changes in hydrology caused by the coal mine.

References

External links

Dysart Woods Laboratory

Ohio University’s Dysart Woods settlement went against OU’s expert opinion

Court Upholds Permit to Mine Ohio Ancient Forest
{{authority control National Natural Landmarks in Ohio Protected areas of Belmont County, Ohio Nature reserves in Ohio Allegheny Plateau Ohio University