Drilling rights under Ohio's only national forest: the map, the money, both sides

Drilling rights under Ohio's only national forest just went for $11 million, and 3,657 people formally protested. Here's what happened, on one map.

On Sept. 15, the Bureau of Land Management leased the oil and gas under 40 parcels (2,777 acres) of Wayne National Forest's Marietta Unit, in Monroe and Washington counties. The minerals were leased, not the land, and nothing can be drilled until BLM approves a permit after another environmental review.

Drilling isn't new there: state records put about 3,100 older oil and gas wells on that forest land, about 800 listed as producing. More than 1,400 Utica shale wells surround it, none on forest land.

Supporters: half the money goes to Ohio, most pads would sit on private land and drill sideways, and the gas feeds Ohio manufacturing.
Opponents: 3,657 protests over truck traffic, air and water, a fragmented forest and the endangered Indiana bat. BLM denied them all, and the Ohio Environmental Council says it's going back to court.

Should drilling happen under public forest land? Tell us why, and keep it civil.

More Ohio, mapped: crackedbuckeye.com

Narration: AI voice. Sources: BLM lease sale results (Sept. 16, 2026) and protest decision (Sept. 14, 2026); BLM ePlanning parcel map; Ohio Department of Natural Resources well records; PAD-US 4.1; The Post (Athens); WOSU; Signal Ohio. Photos: Wayne National Forest (Kyle Brooks, Jason Reed; public domain); U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (public domain); OGRIP Ohio Statewide Imagery Program.