Wildlife preserve named for late farmer, not President Trump
Outrage erupted across the Twitterverse with accusations that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources recently named a Pickaway County hunting preserve after President Donald Trump.
“No. No (expletive) way! Absolutely reprehensible,” one person wrote.
“Well, this takes the cake – especially when one considers how much habitat destruction has happened under the Trump Administration,” wrote another.
Tweets linked to an ODNR website showing the Trump Wildlife Habitat Hunting Preserve. There was no information posted on the website about the preserve or its name except the notice, “More information about this area is coming soon!”
Trump has long been a target for environmentalists after rolling back about 100 environmental regulations affecting everything from air quality to wildlife.
“Ohio Department of Natural Resources names a hunting preserve after Trump,” stated another tweet. “Vulgar, tacky, and they misspelled ‘wildlife.’ ”
The problem: It’s not true that the preserve was named after the 45th president.
Records show the preserve is named
for Charles O. Trump, a farmer who owned land on State Route 56 in Pickaway County. He donated his land to the ODNR upon his death in 1996 at age 81.
Trump’s 128 acres in Jackson Township was transferred to the state agency in December 1996.
“This isn’t a new property, we’ve had it for something like 20 years. It’s named for the person who donated the land – not president Trump,” said Sarah Wickham, a spokesperson for the state agency.
The ODNR removed the web page after The Dispatch contacted the agency about the name. Wickham told The Dispatch the state agency is in the process of updating its website.
When told the president has nothing to do with the preserve, one person on Twitter who had criticized the state agency reacted, “Holy Moly that is such a relief.”
Another person said, “Just obvious that people seeing the page would assume it’s named for Trump, and if (the state) care(s), they could add the full name. Maybe they don’t.”
Dispatch Librarian Julie Fulton did research for this article.
bburger@dispatch.com