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The Nature Conservancy Expands Baker Swamp Preserve

Purchase protects largest, high-quality example of a Teays wetland community in Ohio

OAK HILL, OHIO — November 9, 2007— Rare wetland habitat once threatened by a proposed power plant development is now protected for future generations, thanks to the purchase of 119 acres of Jackson County land containing Baker Swamp, a relic of Ohio’s glacial past.

The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit conservation organization that has protected portions of the swamp for 20 years, recently added the land to its Baker Swamp Preserve near Oak Hill.

“This purchase represents the culmination of our initiative to protect Baker Swamp and the rare plant and animal life that call it home,” said Rebecca Smith, acting director of The Nature Conservancy in Ohio. “It is an encouraging result of the hard work and dedication of so many people during several years of this ongoing project.”

The $309,306 cost to purchase the land is provided through a cooperative agreement with the U.S.  Fish & Wildlife Service, which is in charge of distributing punitive damages collected following a catastrophic mine flooding event in 1993 that had a substantial environmental impact in nearby Meigs County. The Nature Conservancy was not involved in the litigation surrounding the punitive damages, but offered the purchase of the land because it meets the requirements for use of the funding.

The land purchase, which nearly triples the size of the protected area to 181 acres, comes nearly seven years after a proposal to build a natural gas-fired power plant at the edge of Baker Swamp. The Nature Conservancy joined several area families in opposition to the plant, and the company eventually withdrew its proposal. The Conservancy acquired its first land at Baker Swamp in 1987.

About Baker Swamp
Baker Swamp is the largest, high-quality example of a Teays wetland community in Ohio and provides habitat for unique plants and animals, including amphibians, fish and birds.

Baker Swamp is a large wetland that developed in the course of the pre-glacial Marietta River, a principal tributary of the preglacial Teays River in southeastern Ohio. Two million years ago, the area was inundated under the waters of a large lake (about three-quarters the size of modern Lake Erie) that was formed by the downstream blockage of the Teays River during a glacial advance. The sediments deposited on the lakebed created the abundant clay deposits that were mined for brick-making for many years in this region. These impermeable soils and the activity of beaver in the area have contributed to the formation of Baker Swamp.

Baker Swamp lies in the Western Allegheny Plateau Ecoregion and today consists of more than 100 acres of shallow open-water wetland and cattail marsh. More than 50 acres of buttonbush-alder shrub swamp occupy the southern portion of this preserve. Swamp forests occur to the east and north of the open-water zone.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.