DAYTON- A 15,000-acre swath of woodland teeming with bobcats, black bears, rattlesnakes and other wildlife will soon be protected as Ohio's first new state forest in more than a decade.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says the state has tapped mostly private and federal funding to secure a $15.1 million purchase agreement for the Raccoon Ecological Management Area in southeast Ohio's Vinton County, home to the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest.

Department Director Sean Logan says it is one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the country and home to more than 50 years of forest research.

The state's largest known population of bobcats lives there, as do bears, timber rattlesnakes and rare birds and plants.

The state hopes to finalize the purchase by July.