Our task is straightforward – to buy and preserve the most intact wildlands remaining
in the heartland of Appalachia.
Wildlands saved to date in Appalachian Ohio and West Virginia: 12,670 acres
There once lived a forest.
It was a nearly unbroken forest that covered the eastern third of our nation - a natural community that had sustained itself without interruption for over 40 million years and boasted a complexity second only to the tropical rainforest. Then, in a remarkably short time, we took the forest to the ground, before we even knew the immensity of what we had lost.
We must courageously face the fragmentation and diminishment of this once great forest and turn loss into decision. The old growth forest is literally just a thought form away. We are the children of the children of the children of the people who cut the forest down. We can be the generation that chooses to bring the forest back.
Buying back the land for the sake of community
The Earth is exceptionally fond of communities, so much so that she covered nearly every square inch of her land with them, and they fill much of her waters as well. And she has been doing this community-focus for over three billion years. Species come and go over geologic time. It is only the communities that endure. And only now - after surviving eons of droughts, volcanic eruptions, glaciers, forest fires, and continental collisions – is America’s Eastern Hardwood Forest community in trouble. The reason, of course, is us. And yet, the same species that can destroy can choose to heal and sustain.
The Arc of Appalachia represents the will of many people across our country who labor to put the pieces of the broken forest back together again.
Preserving wildlands and putting you in them.
Nature, our first cradle, continues to call us home. The Arc of Appalachia is working to ensure that when we have the wisdom to accept the invitation, there is still some place left to go.
Put your feet on the Arc's 60 miles of hiking trails - taking you into some of the most stunning scenery in the state.
A complete list of Nature Literacy workshops, courses, and experiences.
Our lodges are beautiful inside, but their most important offering is what you find outside their doors.
Our Dream
The Arc’s mission has a clear trajectory. We are here to save the beauty, balance, and biodiversity of the Eastern Hardwood Forest in Appalachian Ohio.
balanced forests = healthy forests = biodiverse forests = old forests = balanced forests
Arc supporters are the stewards who live to keep this circle going, and to help the forests grow.
The Arc is largely a volunteer-driven nonprofit. Our door is open. Please walk in.
The Arc has engaged in 30 years of conservation work and trail development in the five-county region known as the Appalachian Front. Today it is Ohio's Premier hiking destination.
The word for Home is forest.