Charles E. Eulett Wilderness Trail

The Wilderness Preserve honors Charlie Eulett. Charlie, an Adams County teacher, shared his love of prairies and woodlands with local residents and advocated the protection of these areas—a progressive idea in the 1960s and 1970s. As you travel east through Adams County in south-central Ohio, the rugged hills of the Allegheny Plateau rise abruptly above the countryside. Here, at the Appalachian escarpment, sprawls one of the most biologically diverse collections of natural systems in the Midwestern United States. Amid rocky slopes, rolling meadows and deep moist ravines, relict plant communities have persisted for thousands of years. The Ohio chapter of The Nature Conservancy and the Museum of Natural History & Science at Cincinnati Museum Center own and manage a series of 10 nearly contiguous preserves, collectively called The Richard and Lucile Durrell Edge of Appalachia Preserve System, the largest privately owned protected natural area in Ohio. Opened to the public in 1967, Buzzardroost Rock honors Christian and Emma Goetz. Like Lynx Prairie and The Wilderness Preserve, Buzzardroost is a National Natural Landmark. The Edge of Appalachia provides critical habitat for some 100 rare species of plants and animals. Four areas in the preserve, Lynx Prairie, Buzzardroost Rock, Red Rock and the Wilderness, are registered National Natural Landmarks, testimony to their national significance. The eminent ecologist E. Lucy Braun first called attention to the biodiversity of "The Edge" in the 1920s. Her students, Richard and Lucile Durrell, were early leaders in the effort to preserve this outstanding natural area.