Ohio has engineered a crisis for its own public lands — and is now using that crisis to justify drilling on them.

State lawmakers cut the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' parks and recreation budget by 50% in fiscal year 2026 and 13% in fiscal year 2027, according to Legislative Service Commission documents. Then they turned around and used fracking royalties from public land leases to fill the gap. The result is a trap: the less the state funds its parks, the more it depends on drilling to keep them running.

On June 29, 2026, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission voted unanimously to approve more than 20 fracking bids on state-managed lands — including Salt Fork State Park, Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area, and Egypt Valley Wildlife Area — generating more than $240 million in lease bonuses. That money doesn't come free. Industrial fracking on public lands means methane leaks at every stage of production, noise pollution, chemical exposure, heavy truck traffic, and disruption to the wildlife habitat these lands were set aside to protect. Research has found that fracking drives sensitive, forest-dependent species out of their habitat.

Public parks should be funded by the public — not held hostage to extraction deals that damage the very land they're meant to protect.

We call on the Ohio General Assembly and Governor Mike DeWine to restore full funding for ODNR's parks and recreation budget and end the state's financial dependence on fracking royalties from protected lands.

Sign the petition to demand Ohio fund its parks properly — before more public land is permanently compromised to make up for cuts that never should have happened.