22 Years of Conservation in Central & Southern Ohio
Our Conservation Achievement
Latest News
Our 2024 Year in Review has just been published and mailed. Check out the complete document at this link. 
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AOA News and Conservation Victories
Core Portions of Bison Hollow Preserve listed as an Ohio State Nature Preserve. The ODNR Division of Natural Areas and Preserves held a signing ceremony with Director Mertz and AOA representatives present for the recently announced designation of Bison Hollow Preserve as a State Nature Preserve.
Bision Hollow is one of the jewels of the distinctive Hocking Hills landscapes. It is covered in deep, older growth hardwood forests with large stands of hemlock that provide habitat for many native species that are classified as rare, threatened or endangered.
The overall Bison Hollow Preserve now consists of 1,100 acres which includes high sandstone bluffs, gorges, rock shelters and caves, waterfalls and relatively rare high quality coldwater habitat streams in both Hocking and Vinton County of southeast Ohio.
Conservation Victories.
March 19, 2025, AOA’s Poston Preserve. Approximately 60-75 volunteers planted 1,200 native deciduous trees of 12 species as part of the land restoration plan for Poston Preserve in Morrow County. This tree planting event drew FirstEnergy staff and Green Team volunteers, DNO Produce employees and managers, AOA staff and board members, Central Ohio Chapter of the Isaac Walton League members, Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalists, friends, relatives, and neighbors. AOA staff trained volunteers to plant trees and install protective tubes around each tree.
We really appreciate the FirstEnergy team who provided the trees, tree tubes, and staff for this event. We also thank all the volunteers who spent a lovely day in March planting trees.
October 5, 2025, Darby Days
AOA volunteers participated in Darby Days again this year by setting up a display booth and providing a craft table. There were lots of fun things for kids to do at — wading in the creek, handling turtles & snakes, dip netting aquatic insects, observing fish in tanks, netting insects, handling shells, fossils, animal skins on tables, making crafts. We had 60 kids visit our craft table to make leaf people. About 1,200 people attended this fun event organized by Battelle Darby Metro Park.
A monarch tagging event was held on September 13, 2025 at AOA’s Hintz Hollow Preserve in Fairfield County. Parts of this preserve are former agricultural fields that were planted with a prairie seed mix several years ago. The fields are now covered with native wildflowers and attract many butterflies. About 30 people participated in this event which resulted in the tagging of 31 monarchs that are now headed toward Mexico!
A great time was had by all.
