Ohio has acquired nearly 360 acres of forestland in Jackson County, expanding one of the state's most botanically rich nature preserves and establishing an entirely new one to protect what officials describe as one of the highest concentrations of rare plants in southeastern Ohio. The acquisition adds 193 acres to Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve and creates the 164-acre White's Gulch State Nature Preserve, located about a mile from Lake Katharine.
The Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves made the acquisition using $740,000 in grants from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Wetland Resource Restoration Sponsor Program, according to a Facebook post from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Governor Mike DeWine announced the 357-acre acquisition in July, according to the Scioto Post, framing it as a major expansion of the state's protected lands in the region. The WRRSP grants that funded the purchase specifically target wetlands and streams at both project sites, and significant portions of both properties preserve local streams and wetlands, the state agency notes.
A New Preserve Split Across Two Tracts
White's Gulch State Nature Preserve is not one continuous piece of land. Per an Ohio EPA environmental review document from December 2025, it consists of two non-contiguous tracts — a 105-acre gulch valley and a 59-acre ridgetop area — situated roughly 1.25 miles west of Lake Katharine. The two preserve projects share hemlock-hardwood, mixed mesophytic, and oak-hickory forest habitats, with forest canopies growing over towering sandstone cliffs.
Those cliffs are part of what makes the region ecologically distinctive. Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve protects Ohio's largest population of the state-endangered Bigleaf Magnolia and the state-listed Umbrella Magnolia, along with the highest diversity of fern species found anywhere in Ohio, growing on Sharon Conglomerate sandstone cliffs, according to the Flora of the Southeastern United States database. That concentration of southern plant species is tied to the prehistoric Teas River, which once flowed northward through the region depositing Appalachian seeds before glacial shifts reshaped local watersheds, according to Friends of Lake Katharine.
Fifty Years of State Preserve History
The acquisition lands amid a milestone year for Ohio's conservation program. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Natural Areas and Preserves celebrated its 50th anniversary on June 2, 2026, marking half a century since Governor Jim Rhodes signed the legislation that created the division in 1976. Lake Katharine itself dates to that same era: the preserve was established in 1976 through a land gift from business partners Edwin A. Jones and James J. McKitterick, who named the 90-acre artificial lake after Jones' wife, Katharine.
The state is also investing in the preserve's aging infrastructure alongside the new land acquisitions. ODNR announced state capital funding in July for a full dam rehabilitation project at Lake Katharine, aimed at repairing drain valves and spillways and expanding flood storage capacity while minimizing impact on the surrounding ecology, the agency said.
Strict Rules and a Managed Deer Hunt
Because Lake Katharine is a dedicated state nature preserve rather than a state park, it carries tighter restrictions than typical public lands: pets are prohibited, visitors must remain on designated trails, and boating on the lake requires a written permit, according to Hiking Ohio. Those rules exist to shield the preserve's rare magnolias and ferns from disturbance even as the site remains open to hikers.
Deer overbrowsing remains one of the preserve's persistent management challenges, and ODNR continues to rely on controlled hunts to protect native plant populations — an approach Hoodline reported on last year. ODNR has scheduled a mandatory meeting for August 15 for hunters entering the lottery for controlled gun, archery, and muzzleloader deer hunts at Lake Katharine during the 2026–2027 season, according to AVC News. The lottery system allows the state to thin deer populations enough to reduce browsing pressure on the same rare plant communities the new land acquisitions are meant to protect.
