Ohio

Gifford Forest - Projects #26 and #271

 The site consists of an old 6 acre hay field on top of a south facing finger ridge. Tree shelters were applied to every tenth tree. The project demonstrates some unique features of Opposum street and is easily visible from State Route 377.  The area is 10 acres and includes the replanting of an endangered species of tree native to Ohio known as butternut. 

Perry State Forest - Projects #3, 40, 67, 93, 104, 114

The area is rugged, barren terrain that was strip mined for coal prior  to the current reclamation laws.  It is, for the most part, bare and black unvegetated spoil banks.  A few sporadic pockets of trees are remnants of early reclamation attempts. 15,000 PT inoculated Red oak and Virginia Pine seedlings (Students Today for Environmental protection). The students are shown to plant the trees, and are given a history of the forest prior to planting. 

The Wilds - Project 262

 The Wilds is a private, non-profit conservation center located on nearly 10,000 acres of reclaimed mine land in rural southeastern Ohio. It was created as the conservation center of the future by a group of civic leaders, political leaders and zoo professionals who believed that a serious scientific approach was required to find solutions to environmental concerns.  

 Since 2014, almost 10,000 seedlings have been planted at The Wilds.  The Wilds is currently studying several tree establishment techniques to improve our ability to reforest reclaimed grassland sites. They are comparing the effect of site preparation techniques, planting methods, and different tree species on seedling survival. The seedlings have been funded by the Hardwood Forestry Fund (2014-15), Green Forests works (2016) and the American Association of zoo Keepers (2018). The 2018 planting can be viewed on TheWilds.ColumbusZoo.org. website.