Trees to Textbooks Shares Revenue with Local Schools, Communities
Ohio's Country Journal (November 7, 2016)

Sixteen rural Ohio school districts and their corresponding counties and townships will share $2,038,898 from the sale of timber from Ohio’s state forests, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).

ODNR Director James Zehringer recently visited the elementary schools of some districts receiving Trees to Textbooks funding, including Peebles Elementary School in Adams County, Portsmouth West Elementary School in Scioto County and West Elementary School in Vinton County. The students at these elementary schools attended Trees to Textbooks assemblies where Smokey Bear shared his wildfire safety message followed by a check presentation to the district.

“Sharing these funds locally helps communities provide essential services to and can go a long way in making good schools better,” Zehringer said. “The natural resources in these areas provide a host of benefits, and this is one tangible way residents can benefit from their state forests.”

Through the ODNR Division of Forestry’s Trees to Textbooks program, a percentage of the revenue generated from state forest management activity goes to the county, township and school district in which the activity took place. To see which local communities received Trees to Textbooks funding, go to: bit.ly/TreesToTextbooksFY16.

“Wisely managed forests are renewable natural resources,” said Robert Boyles, Ohio’s state forester. “We all benefit from sustainable forests, and these revenues can be invested in the education and maintenance of local communities.”

The ODNR Division of Forestry has been distributing timber revenues to counties and townships since the early 1980s. In 1999, the “Trees to Textbooks” program was started, and since that time, more than $27.2 million has been distributed to Ohio school districts and their corresponding local governments.