McCONNELSVILLE, Ohio - Come summertime, nature lovers in Ohio will have another piece of public land to enjoy: Jesse Owens State Park and Wildlife Area in Southeast Ohio.

It may look familiar to many. Though privately owned, the property has been open to the public for decades, for camping, hunting, fishing and hiking.

American Electric Power, the Columbus-based utility, has owned the land - more than 60,000 acres, spread across four counties - for decades. Mined for coal starting in the 1940s, the property has gradually been "reclaimed" by the company, with trees and grassland replanted and ponds and lakes added.

It's known as ReCreation Land and it's long been a popular spot for outdoor enthusiasts.

Named for Olympics legend and former Clevelander Jesse Owens, the park will open as soon as this summer and represents Ohio's largest increase in public recreational land in recent memory.

The property includes a 24-mile portion of the Buckeye Trail, 600 lakes and ponds stocked with fish, 30 miles of horseback riding trails, plus a 10-mile dirt trail for mountain biking.

The company estimates that more than 100,000 people enjoy the park every year.

Despite its popularity, there has never been any guarantee that AEP would keep the land open to the public forever, said Gary Obermiller, assistant director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

In recent years, the company has been gradually selling off smaller parcels of land in Southeast Ohio.

"We've been happy to provide these 60,000 acres of recreation land for the public's use and enjoyment over the past few decades. But at our core, we're an electric utility company, said Scott Blake, a spokesman for AEP. "There comes a time to streamline the assets you have to your core business. Right now seemed like the right time."

Several years ago, the state started talking to the company about buying some of the land. Last summer, the two agreed to a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of a substantial part of the property.

The deal calls for the state to pay $26 million for 13,000 acres over three years, with an option to buy more later. The purchase of the first piece of that 13,000 acres - just under 6,000 acres - likely will be finalized this year, becoming the state's 75th park.

"We felt a sense of urgency to start purchasing as much as we can, as fast as we can, so that it stays available to the public," said Obermiller.

Citing Ohio's many densely populated urban areas, Obermiller added: "We're already a public-land poor state. We're interested in as much as we can get to provide those recreational opportunities. We saw it as something very high priority."

Is state ownership a good idea?

Not everyone is pleased about the state's newest addition, however. Local communities and school districts stand to lose tax dollars once the land is sold to the government; hunters and wildlife enthusiasts are fearful that their interests may take a backseat to other recreational activities; and some are complaining that activities that used to be free, including camping, will soon carry a fee.

Cindy Lyon, of Lisbon, said she worries the already cash-strapped Department of Natural Resources won't be able to properly maintain the new park.

"They have no money to maintain what they have," said Lyon a long-time volunteer at Columbiana County's Beaver Creek State Park. "And now they want to add this area?"

She would have preferred to see it sold to a private owner committed to keeping it open for public recreation.

Thirty years ago, AEP donated about 10,000 acres to a nonprofit organization that runs the Wilds, an animal conservation park near Cumberland.

Obermiller, however, said there's no guarantee a private owner would have allowed public access. "If we don't buy it, it will go into private hands and very likely will not be available for any recreational opportunities."

Camping and fees

The state likely will start charging for camping, though probably not until 2019, Obermiller said. Currently, visitors are required to obtain a permit to use the land, which are available for free online and at local retailers.

The ReCreation land has 380 campsites across six campgrounds, which offer water but no electricity. Two of those campgrounds, Sand Hollow and Maple Grove, are included in the initial land purchase of 6,000 acres. So is Miner's Memorial Park, on Ohio 78, which pays tribute to the company's workers and features the 240-ton bucket from Big Muskie, the massive earth-moving machine that cleared much of this land.

The money for the purchase is coming from both the Division of Wildlife, which generates much of its budget from fees from hunting and fishing licenses; and the Division of Parks and Watercraft, which gets its operating budget from the state general revenue fund as well as camping and lodge fees.

Of the state's initial purchase of about 6,000 acres, 4,800 will be designated Wildlife Area, paid for with about $9 million in Division of Wildlife money; and about 900 acres will be parkland, including the campgrounds, paid for with $1.7 million in park money.

Matt Eiselstein, chief of communications for the Department of Natural Resources, said there are no current plans to develop the land more fully.

He also said that the additional cost to the state to maintain the land shouldn't be prohibitive, given that the state already helps manage the property with AEP.

Said Eiselstein: "If we do it right, nobody should see anything different. They should be able to enjoy the property as they always have."