Ohio is on the verge of opening one of its most important wildlife refuges to industrial fracking — and the animals, birds, and fish that call it home could pay the price.

The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission is considering leasing more than 20,000 acres of the Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in southeastern Ohio to fracking companies. This summer, the commission is expected to vote on bids that could allow drilling across the entire wildlife area — land that was painstakingly restored from surface coal mining over the past three decades specifically to support wildlife.

Egypt Valley is home to river otters reintroduced by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) in the 1990s, along with bass, songbirds, and game species like ruffed grouse and American woodcock — two birds already in long-term decline due to habitat loss. Research from West Virginia University found that fracking activity drives sensitive, forest-dependent bird species out of their habitat and replaces them with generalist species like cowbirds, which can crowd out vulnerable wildlife. Residents near similar fracking operations in the Tappan Lake area of Ohio have already watched this pattern unfold firsthand.

Fracking doesn't just mean a well in the ground. It means heavy truck traffic on rural roads, clear-cut land for well pads and pipelines, noise pollution around the clock, and the risk of contaminated water sources. The ODNR has proposed some restrictions — like building well pads outside the area's boundaries and pausing drilling during hunting seasons — but these measures do not address the full scale of disruption that comes with industrial oil and gas development on public land.

Egypt Valley was restored for the public and for wildlife. We urge the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to reject fracking leases at Egypt Valley Wildlife Area and keep this land protected for the animals, hunters, anglers, and communities that depend on it.