Dysart Woods is a protected old-growth forest on Ohio’s unglaciated Allegheny Plateau and the largest remaining stand of its kind in that part of the state. Once part of Orin B. Dysart’s 455-acre property, it was preserved after his nieces chose to sell it to the Nature Conservancy rather than to lumber or coal companies. Ohio University later acquired and dedicated the tract, which was designated a National Natural Landmark and is managed as an outdoor laboratory. Its ancient trees and rare continuity made it scientifically valuable, but underground coal mining beneath and beside the woods in 2010 was followed by the death of about half its old-growth trees.

Belmont, Ohio · USA