The Story of the Highlands

Do you yearn for more Wilderness? 

Not so long ago, the Highlands Nature Sanctuary said "YES" to wilderness in Ohio. It was a brave response at the time, some would even say naïve. With zero dollars in our bank account and zero acres in deed, we existed by merely a name and a mission. Today, we have raised over $7 million dollars and have purchased almost 2500 acres of some of the most beautiful forests, prairies and wetlands in Ohio. Although we have made incredible accomplishments, we hope this is just a beginning… To bring wilderness back to Ohio requires the purchase of an immense amount of land. We need the help of everyone who still believes wilderness is possible, and is willing to transform dreams into action.

There once was a great Eastern forest…

It was 2000 miles wide and 2000 miles long. For millennia America's expansive eastern deciduous forest nourished an incredible richness of life that exceeded all other temperate forests in the world. Then, just a few hundred years ago, new people arrived. In a brief moment in history the settlers brought the forest to the ground. The trees were cut so thoroughly that today less than one square mile of Ohio’s original primeval forest remains. In a period of only 20 years the landscape was so altered by the pioneers that the bear, passenger pigeon, cougar, otter, elk, bison, wolf, and amazingly, even such common animals as the white-tail deer, turkey, and beaver completely disappeared. Although some species were re-introduced, a few became extinct while others remain missing to this day.

The biggest obstacle to bringing back the ancient old-growth forest of the East is our mass forgetfulness of what was once here. To work toward a goal, one must hold a vision. In America's Northwest, 10 percent of the virgin redwoods forest still stands as a living clarion call for action…. But old-growth forest in Ohio and most of the East?….. Considerably less than one percent remains. To bring back the original eastern forest we can’t just preserve it, we must re-create it.

The old-growth forest that once covered half a continent is now Ohio's rarest ecosystem.

Many would argue that trees are plentiful in our landscape today and are even increasing in numbers. But a forest is much more than the sum of its trees. Most of our native forests are extremely young. Cut over and over before their prime, most of our forests are not much more than agricultural crops, having only a whisper of the diversity and immensity of the original mother forest. The primeval forest, with its aging towering trees, sheltered hundreds of distinctive varieties of understory shrubs, herbs and mushrooms and thousands of species of mammals, birds, and invertebrates. The old-growth forest, once the most common eco-system in Eastern America, is now our rarest.

Wilderness and ancient forests are a vanishing commodity because they make no money for man. In the end, to save wilderness, we must see nature not through the eyes of utility but through the eyes of divinity. We must justify wilderness, not just for its scientific or economic usefulness to humanity, but out of an upwelling moral necessity. The greatest motive behind the revolution to save the land must be none other than oldest passion on earth -- love.

Today, with increasing fragmentation of the land into smaller and smaller lots of residential ownership; wilderness in the East seems to be a dimming possibility. But though it is the 11th hour, 59th second for wilderness; it is not too late to call it back and give it a place of refuge. It wasn't by accident that these soils grew one of the richest forests in the world. The deep youthful soils of Ohio, coupled with a relatively mild climate, could enable a relatively quick return of an old-growth forest, if only we would give the forest the simple gift of space and time….. Such a gift doesn't take magic, scientific studies, or complicated technology…it merely takes money. Land is expensive but we only have to buy it once.

In the cave-country of the Rocky Fork valley, we began…

This is the story of the Sanctuary; and how the commitment to save the Rocky Fork Gorge was shouldered by hundreds of households across Ohio as a coordinated grass-roots effort. Since the non-profit was founded in 1995, over seven million dollars has been raised for land acquisition — all this with negligible costs for payroll and overhead administration. Even today, only four employees are involved in running the Sanctuary’s education programs, 14 miles of hiking trails, land management and protection oversight, newsletter publication, E-magazine production, and three overnight lodges — the rest of the labor is volunteer! We retell this story because many households who have come to support the Sanctuary over the years may never have heard the story of how it all began, and how it came to be what it is today.

It all started when two retail store owners and past employees of the Ohio State Park system, unwittingly and reluctantly were drawn into founding the organization in 1995. A few years earlier, after buying land in the region as a solo attempt at nature preservation, the partners had stumbled across a real estate listing. 7 Caves, a 100-year old historic cave park in the heart of the Rocky Fork Gorge was for sale, but its $1.2 million dollar asking price was way beyond their means.

The consequential story of the purchase and protection of the Rocky Fork Gorge proceeded slowly in a typical all-American fashion. Drawing together a small circle of friends, the founders devoted the next year and a half of their lives trying to find someone else to do it. When all leads failed and total desperation set in, they did what hundreds of households later did — they personally committed to the cause, founding a 501(c)3 non-profit charity with one other partner, passing out literature at their bakery business in Columbus, leading promotional nature hikes into the gorge, and being the first donors to the non-profit with both land and money. A board of trustees was soon formed to run the non-profit, and the Sanctuary was born.

Because the asking price on the entire cave property was immensely daunting, the newly formed non-profit organization negotiated with the owners of 7 Caves to buy only 47 of the property’s total 60 acres. The 47 acres desired for purchase contained some of the most spectacular scenery to be found in the state — a 100 foot deep river canyon with vertical walls, sinking springs, and waterfalls. Left in 7 Cave’s ownership were some of the park’s most beautiful geologic features and finest hiking trails, as well as the visitor center, parking lots, and most importantly, the seven caves themselves.

By the autumn of 1995, $60,000 was accumulated toward the $203,000 sale price, raised mostly over the founders' retail bakery counter in the downtown city market of Columbus. A few days before Thanksgiving in the same year, the fledging land trust signed the deed to 7 Caves’ perimeter, borrowing $140,000 from The Nature Conservancy to make the transfer possible.

Since that time the initial efforts put into Sanctuary by a devoted few has been dwarfed by a cadre of grass-roots volunteers. Through their efforts the Sanctuary has purchased a total of 45 separate properties now permanently preserved, 2000 acres of which are in the Rocky Fork Gorge and 500 acres in botanical hotspots scattered along a region called the Arc of Appalachia -- a verdant landscape nestled between the leading front of the Appalachian foothills and the Scioto River -- covering a five county area.

The most dramatic chapter in the story of the Highlands occurred in 2006 when the Sanctuary finally took over ownership and operation of the last thirteen acres of 7 Caves and restored the caves back to their natural condition, turning the tourist part into highly visited nature preserve.

Large projects require the skills of many people. Traditionally non-profits turn to staff to accomplish major initiatives, using volunteers for peripheral activities only.  To remain a low-overhead organization, the Sanctuary is doing something most non-profits don’t have the courage to do: let go! We have been blessed with volunteers possessing a wide variety of skills amongst themselves. They gather information on the non-profit’s needs, take inventory of their own skills and interests, solicit help from each other as needed, and then follow their own inner promptings. The reason this level of self-determination works is because everyone in the group commits to lateral communication. The blessings of e-mail! Independently-working and empowered individuals is the key to a successful grass-roots work force. We think the organizational structure is in synchrony with and reflective of  the ecological communities the Sanctuary is trying to save.

A few years ago The Highlands Nature Sanctuary was visited by Tom Butler, editor of the prestigious ecological journal, since discontinued, called Wild Earth. Tom was visiting selected nature preserves across the United States, gathering 50 preservation stories for a coffee-table book to be called Wildlands Philanthropy. Having Tom at the Sanctuary was a breath of fresh air. His connections to legendary environmental workers across the country and his depth of knowledge in the preservation movement made us continually hungry for further conversation and mental stimulation. Tom told us of an American  philanthropist who funded and purchased several hundred thousand acres in Chili and Patagonia, and another who single-handedly was saving immense acreage in Florida. These stories made our efforts here in the populated and fragmented state of Ohio seem rather small  and insignificant in scope. When finally it became time for Tom to depart, he said what we thought was an astounding thing, “ So far of all the projects I have researched for this book, and all the people I have talked to, the Highlands is one of my favorites.” When we pressed him why, he said, “Most preservation success stories revolve around one or two wealthy benevolent philanthropists. And that’s incredibly beautiful. But here at the Sanctuary, it is truly grassroots. It’s a creation of many people against all odds. And that gives me hope.”

 Nature, our first cradle, continues to call us home. Let us hope, when we collectively have the wisdom to accept the invitation, that there is still some place left to go.

To learn more about the Sanctuary, please explore the links below.