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There is a movement to rename the Wayne National Forest to something a little less controversial. I for one, think it is a good idea.
The Wayne National Forest consists of three large tracts of land in southern and southeastern Ohio. The Marietta unit is east of town and stretches from the Ohio River north into Noble and Monroe counties. The Wayne National Forest is a patchwork of publicly owned land surrounded in some instances by privately owned land.
The forest offers nearly a quarter million acres of publicly owned land open to hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. More than 400 miles of trails offer people a chance to spend significant time with nature.
I have been on around 5% of the trails, and I can attest to the fact that they are some of the most challenging trails in this region. Trails range from short ones, like the Lamping Homestead at four miles, to the Monday Creek Trail in the Athens unit at 84.5 miles. The North Country Trail connects several of the other trails as it passes through the area, In all, 116 miles of the NCT is in the Wayne.
Vast areas of the forest are simply that, forest. Large areas of the Wayne are simply woods and hills with trails passing over them like thin ribbons across a green quilt.
I once hiked 13 miles in the Wayne and never saw another human, not a single soul. Hiking alone was likely not my best idea. In many locations your cell phone will display the dreaded NO SERVICE as you scamper over rocks and through valleys. The trails near us do a nice job complimenting the shorter trails that you can find closer to Marietta.
The Wayne National Forest is named for Anthony Wayne. Wayne was many things, a brigadier general in the Revolutionary War, a businessman and congressman. His temperament earned him the nickname "Mad Anthony." After serving in the Revolutionary War he owned several plantations in Georgia.
His time in Ohio, many consider to be a shameful period in American History.
George Washington asked Wayne to command forces in the Northwest Indian War. Wayne came out of retirement to do so. He led the Army against the Northwestern Confederacy, a British backed alliance of native American tribes in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. His effort to drive Native Americans from their land in Northwest Ohio lead to the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 that he helped negotiate. The effort included burning villages that the Native Americans called home. The treaty would push the Native Americans further west and was one of the steps into Ohio becoming a state in 1803. Wayne died a year after it was signed. The treaty was not honored for long and was one step that our nation took to push westward across the continent.
But, it would appear that Wayne had no firm connection to the huge forest that was named after him.
The Forest Service is considering changing the name of the forest to the Buckeye National Forest. It is one of several more inclusive names that is being considered.
There are several reasons that Buckeye Forest seems a better fit to many people.
¯ The buckeye tree is a symbol of Ohio, in fact it is the state tree. It is worth noting that it is found mainly on the western side of the state. You are less likely to find the tree downriver from Marietta to Portsmouth than you are in the rest of the state, so there may be areas of the Buckeye National Forest with no Buckeye trees. Awkward.
¯ A football team in Columbus has given some national fame to the tree.
¯ The term "buckeye" to describe something from Ohio can trace its roots to Marietta. Ebenezer Sproat, the first sheriff in Ohio, was called Hetuck by local native Americans. Meaning the eye of the buck deer, or Big Buckeye, it was the first known use of buckeye to describe someone in Ohio. It is only fitting that the forest a few miles from Marietta would carry the name.
I'm sure the process to change the name of 244,000 acres takes about as long as it does for a buckeye tree to grow. I think it makes sense though to move forward and remove the name of a man that had a less than inclusive view of his fellow man.
Art Smith in online manager of The Times, he can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com