NARO offers education, resources for mineral owners

By Rebecca Bratten Weiss Harrison News-Herald Staff Writer

NARO (The National Association of Royalty Owners) Ohio is a resource for landowners and mineral owners wondering how best to negotiate oil and gas leases, or manage their mineral rights following an initial lease.

They are a volunteer-led, member-based education and advocacy organization, and the only national organization representing oil-and-gas royalty owners’ interests. About 150 people are involved in NARO Ohio.

NARO Ohio Board President Dan Devitt spoke with the News-Herald and explained some of the ways the organization assists Ohio landowners.

“They work with people and give them advice about their minerals, and point them to legal counsel,” Devitt said. This is important because terms of leases can sometimes be confusing.

“For landowners or mineral owners who are not leased yet, we can work with them, help them figure out what to look for. There’s a lot of key lease clauses that, if you’re not in the business, you don’t know what to ask about,” he noted.

Landowners need to be aware of the terms of their leases, stay on top of any changes, and make sure they are getting paid what they should. Anyone who owns even a small parcel of land can talk to NARO

Make homesteading connections

As far as local help for homesteaders, there are a few local homesteading or mini-farms in Harrison and Jefferson counties.

Some have small farms with livestock like a few head of cattle, maybe some sheep or goats, pigs, chickens, ducks or guineas. They grow their own produce, and some sell it from their homes, have a place that they set up alongside the road or even at local farmer’s markets. Some may look at themselves as farmers, not necessarily homesteaders. Everyone has a different viewpoint about what they’re doing.

Through Facebook, you can usually find anything from cattle to pigs, chickens to fruit trees, vegetables to different types of brambles (blackberries, raspberries, etc.)

I have recently been in contact with a couple of homesteaders in both counties. Doing so online can be difficult, because not everyone has “homesteading” in their name. It’s usually a farm name, like ours, Terra Bella Farm, but that’s not always the case. Word of mouth or connections like these can open up many doors of opportunities for you to meet like-minded people.

There is usually someone who knows someone that knows someone that can help you make a connection. In small, rural communities, it is fairly easy to find what you need or what you are looking for; you just need to ask.

and get advice on how to manage their resources.

One way NARO assists landowners is by helping them organize into landowner units.

“We work with companies that form landowner groups,” Devitt explained. “They usually get organized around a unit or a group of units that are trying to be leased by a particular company. And we try to negotiate a standard lease between them. That really helps the smaller landowners because the more acreage you can negotiate with, the better lease you can get.”

Originally, Devitt explained, the organization was part of a larger advocacy group, NARO Appalachia, which also involved Kentucky and

West Virginia. However, because legislation differs from one state to the next, it made sense to start a group offering resources that are specifically tailored to meet the needs of Ohio mineral owners. So the Ohio chapter of NARO was founded in 2019 by Janet Conn and Becky Clutter. Geologist Barry Browne was the first president of the organization.

Mineral owners need for assistance or advice does not stop with the initial lease.

“A lot of people are focused only on initial lease and tend to forget about how to manage those minerals,” Devitt said. “There is a whole life cycle after your lease, and managing your minerals becomes important.”

For instance, once the well is in place and has achieved its first sales of oil or gas, a landowner gets a division order. This is a contract that shows a record of their interest in that well. Landowners should be aware that division orders are intended to protect the company, not to help leaseholders, and sometimes those companies could put language into the new contract that reduces their own liability or even overrides the terms of the lease. NARO can help mineral owners deal with division orders and protect their own rights and interests.

Devitt explained that in areas like Texas or Oklahoma where they’ve been drilling longer, there are whole industries built around helping people manage their minerals for the future, but Ohio is still catching up with this process. With this in mind, NARO’s theme for their 2023 convention in September is “Managing for the Future.” The convention will be held in Cambridge, and will host speakers, sponsors, and industry leaders covering different aspects of the oil and gas industry.

For those interested in joining NARO Ohio, there is an introductory membership fee of $50. The organization offers different levels of membership depending if you are a private landowner or a business. Landowners and mineral owners can join NARO at www.Join-NARO.org.