Former church camp site will see some logging

One of the Holmes County buyers of a 467-acre Hocking County site that for decades was home to a church summer camp has confirmed that future plans for the site include some logging.

“Basically I’m an investor,” Alan L. Miller, of Glenmont, told The Logan Daily News Tuesday. “We’re in the forestry business, and we bought the property as an investment. I don’t have any long-term plans as far as having a camp there, or anything like that.”

Miller, along with Lois M. and Levi R. Miller, recently purchased the property, located in the area around Cox Road and State Route 328, for $3.4 million from the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. The church had long used the property for a summer camp, Camp Otterbein, but the camp reportedly had seen falling enrollments and budget problems in recent years.

News of the sale, posted on The Logan Daily News Facebook site, prompted numerous comments, many expressing dismay that the camp had been sold.

Asked what the plans are for the property and any timeline, Miller did not provide many details, but did say there will be some logging.

“(We bought it) probably more as an investment, and also, we’re in the forestry business, so that played into the picture as well,” he said. “We would be doing some selective harvesting of timber in the near future, yes.”