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Grassy land

Former coal mine site in Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area before (inset) and after reclamation efforts, by Keith E. Gilland and Brian C. McCarthy, Restoration Ecology, November 2013

An unnamed oil and gas company has submitted a “nomination” to the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to frack 1,460 acres of Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area in Harrison County.

If approved, it would be the third-largest tract of Ohio public land for oil and gas extraction. But before that can happen, we the people who pay for and use this land have a chance to comment.

SUBMIT A COMMENT

Tell the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission: Don’t approve fracking at Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area. Visit the Nomination Comment Form, choose Nomination 25-DNR-0002, and submit your comment by November 13, 2025.

Jockey Hollow is a 3,469-acre wildlife area six miles southwest of Cadiz in Harrison County. It received its name in the 1940s from locals who raced horses there.

The area went through a decade of surface mining from 1958 to 1968, when 200,000 tons of coal were removed. Mining left deep scars on the land. "Over 10,000 feet of exposed highwall was left behind, as well as ungraded spoil, barren areas, water filled pits, exposed toxics and little or no topsoil,” according to the Ohio Biological Survey.

In 2004, Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area was established through an agreement with Consolidation Coal Company, and extensive efforts began to repair the land. Over 80,000 trees were planted, along with shrubs and grasslands to provide living space for wildlife. The wildlife area was opened to the public in 2012, and is popular for hunters, fishers, hikers, and wildlife watchers.

Tell the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission: Don’t approve fracking at Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area. Visit the Nomination Comment Form, choose Nomination 25-DNR-0002, and submit your comment by November 13, 2025.

You can draw from our sample letter below — but please personalize to explain why preserving our wildlife areas is important to you:

To the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission:
I am writing to strongly oppose Nomination 25-DNR-0002 to frack 1,460 acres of Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area. This wildlife area is widely used for hunting, fishing, hiking, and wildlife watching. None of these uses is compatible with the noise, toxic air pollution, methane leaks, lights, and numerous truck trips entailed in fracking.
ODNR obtained much of the land in Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area through an agreement with Consolidation Coal Company in 2004. The area had been heavily coal mined in the 1950s and 1960s, leaving behind deep scars in the land.
It took years of rehabilitation to make the land suitable as wildlife habitat and human recreation. Turning over such a large part of Jockey Hollow for oil and gas extraction would undo all the work that has gone into creating this wildlife area.
Numerous species live in Jockey Hollow, including wild turkeys, ruffed grouse, fox, gray squirrels, white-tailied deer, woodland and grassland songbirds, and even bobcats. The pollution, gas emissions, noise, light, and constant truck traffic is likely to drive much of the wildlife away, defeating the purpose of a wildlife area..
The people of Ohio pay for and use our public lands, including Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area. We do not want to see any more fossil fuel extraction from this land. Please DENY nomination 25-DNR-0002, and preserve Jockey Hollow in its reclaimed state.
Thank you.

Your voice is very important to this process. Thank you for your ongoing advocacy for Ohio’s state parks and public lands.