NEW STRAITSVILLE, Ohio - No one knew what to expect when the Appalachian Ohio group Rural Action fastened motion-sensor cameras to trees in the Wayne National Forest, staked a deer carcass to the ground and waited. A dining table set for wild meat eaters, the bait station was expected to draw some coyotes and crows. And it did. But to the surprised delight of the camera-project participants, a mother bobcat and her three kittens showed up, too.

NEW STRAITSVILLE, Ohio � No one knew what to expect when the Appalachian Ohio group Rural Action fastened motion-sensor cameras to trees in the Wayne National Forest, staked a deer carcass to the ground and waited.

A dining table set for wild meat eaters, the bait station was expected to draw some coyotes and crows. And it did.

But to the surprised delight of the camera-project participants, a mother bobcat and her three kittens showed up, too.

"It was like hitting the jackpot to see bobcats!" said Katrina Schultes, a wildlife biologist for the forest.

Their appearance demonstrated the bobcat revival taking place in Ohio. Hunting and the loss of forest habitat to farming, mining, iron furnaces and other industrial development had nearly wiped out the species by 1850. They have slowly returned but still are scarce enough that they only were removed from the state's endangered-species list in 2014.

The bobcat sighting also shows that efforts to clean up and reclaim both streams and land in southeastern Ohio scarred by decades of unregulated coal mining during the 19th and 20th centuries are paying off, said Nate Schlater of Rural Action.

The nonprofit organization's Monday Creek Restoration Project has spent about $16 million since the effort began in 1994, said Schlater, the Monday Creek Watershed coordinator.

The work to reclaim the 27-mile creek, its tributaries and land around it is a collaboration among Rural Action and funding partners including the Wayne National Forest, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and others. The effort includes neutralizing the acid mine drainage seeping from old, abandoned mines and polluting Monday Creek and other streams.

The Monday Creek watershed covers 116 square miles in parts of Perry, Hocking and Athens counties. The area is riddled with more than 15,000 acres of underground abandoned mines, Schlater said, plus countless smaller, "mom and pop" mines from the late 1800s and early 1900s that weren't mapped. The restoration work includes the addition of treatment systems that neutralize the highly acidic, orange-colored, rotten-egg-smelling water spilling from mines and make it clean enough to support life.

With a pH level of 4.5 when the cleanup started two decades ago, "Monday Creek was comparable to vinegar," Schlater said.

Aquatic wildlife has increased since then, from four fish species to 35 species today, including seven types of darters, and large-mouth, small-mouth and spotted bass. "This shows that water quality is improving significantly," Schlater said.

Similar work is underway to counter mine drainage pollution in the Sunday Creek watershed, which takes in parts of Perry, Athens and Morgan counties.

Rural Action used a grant from the national Norcross Wildife Foundation to buy six motion-sensing infrared cameras for $250 each and set them up in December on several sites on reclaimed mine land in the national forest.

The footage was educational and entertaining, including a standoff between the mother bobcat and a coyote over the deer carcass. The bobcat stood her ground.

"It was exciting to see kittens and know that bobcats are successfully mating here," Schultes said. "That suggests these animals have come back on their own and are recolonizing the available habitats in Ohio."

State wildlife officials plan to use the footage to help with the statewide bobcat report issued annually. In 2014, the most recent year available, there were 197 verified bobcat sightings in 39 counties � 60 percent of them in Noble County and counties within a one-mile radius of it in southeastern Ohio.

Separately, state wildlife officials are using technology to study black bears, which also are increasing but remain on the state's endangered-species list. In 2014, there were 135 sightings, with 60 confirmed by state wildlife professionals. Neither bears nor bobcats may be hunted in Ohio.

A Division of Wildlife team trapped, sedated and attached a GPS radio collar around the neck of a young male bear in Vinton County in November. The state's first radio-collared bear, it is hoped, will provide data that research biologists can analyze about where he roams and how he uses the habitat. The collar uploads data to a satellite, which transmits it to a server where the data is retrieved by a research biologist, said division spokeswoman Lindsay Rist.

"At some point he should find a mate," which could provide an opportunity to trap and radio-collar the female bear to collect her data on reproduction and other activities, Rist said.

Rural Action's other camera-trapping sites also have recorded gray fox, deer, rabbits, turkeys and woodpeckers.

The site where deer carcasses were spread from December through March is empty now because the meat would rot in the warmth, but Schlater plans to resume the project when cold weather returns.

Hikers needn't worry about encountering a bobcat.

"They are very, very shy, and they keep a low profile," Schultes said.

mlane@dispatch.com

@MaryBethLane1