Forestry Management Program ~
Oglebay, in partnership with EQT is proud to help maintain our forest ecosystem and protect our natural areas.
Wheeling Park Commission has partnered with EQT, a leading independent natural gas producer with an evolutionary focus on our future; Teralytic, a soil analytics company; and Climate Smart Environmental Consulting, LLC, to implement forest management projects that will generate carbon offsets. The projects, spanning more than 1,000 acres of forest land at Oglebay and other forest property owned by the Wheeling Park Commission, utilize Teralytic’s soil probe technology to ensure the quantification of offsets is accurate and transparent.
These efforts are helping us maintain our forest ecosystem and protect the biodiversity of our natural areas. Biodiversity provides functioning ecosystems that supply oxygen, clean air and water, pollination of plants, pest control, and wastewater treatment.
Forestry Management Program Includes:
- Removal and control of invasive species
- Thinning of trees to allow light penetration, increasing soil temperature, and availability of moisture and nutrients within the soil
- Replanting of trees (reforestation) and planting of new trees (aforestration)
- Placement of Teralytic soil probe technology allowing collaboration of students at Wheeling Country Day School to monitor real time changes in the soil health
- The probes indicate moisture content and nitrogen levels; healthy soil absorbs water and makes it available for plants. It also helps control water flow and stores and cycles nutrients.
- Use of In-Field Biochar System that processes forestry waste and converts it into a fine-grained charcoal to use as a fertilizer
- This system sequesters carbon emissions for 1,000 years, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Reforestation Progress
Before and After:
