By combining techniques that emphasize strategic land-use planning with land protection, the Fund has worked to safeguard more than 85,000 acres of Georgia's important landscapes, waterways, and historic sites.

The Green in Georgia’s Forests

Clean air. Clean Water. Good jobs. Revenue to support education. Our challenge is balancing these pressing issues to sustain economic growth and quality of life. An often overlooked piece of this sustainability equation in Georgia is 22 million acres of commercial timberland owned by tens of thousands of private landowners.

Ninety-two percent of Georgia’s forests, covering two-thirds of the state, are privately owned. That land generates thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of revenue supporting government services. Georgia’s working forests also clean and cool our rivers and streams, consume and store carbon, provide habitat for a great diversity of wildlife, and surround us with scenic beauty.

This is an excerpt from an Op Ed about the importance of private forestlands and the great role and value they play in Georgia that was co-authored by the Fund's Rex Boner, vice president of and the Southeast representative for The Conservation Fund. It originally appeared in The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Click here to read more.

Recent Projects:

Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area

The nearly 8,400-acre Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area sits in the southwest corner of Georgia, near Bainbridge. The Conservation Fund purchased this property in 2007 from International Paper (IP), which had managed it as part of a private forestry research site for more than 50 years. Only a handful of these types of research sites exist across the country.

The property features numerous critical habitats identified in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. Most prominently, Silver Lake contains one of the finest examples of a mature longleaf pine forest. This highly imperiled habitat type supports a host of threatened and endangered wildlife including red-cockaded woodpecker and gopher tortoise. It also provides valuable habitat for white-tailed deer, wild turkey, waterfowl, and the declining northern bobwhite quail.

Governor Sonny Perdue announced the state's plans to purchase the property from The Conservation Fund in three phases and create a new state wildlife management area. With funding assistance from Decatur County, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and a variety of other local, state, federal and nonprofit partners, the acquisition was completed in 2009.

Silver Lake WMA is operated by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and is open to the public for fishing, hunting and other outdoor recreation.

Past Projects:

Callaway

To help preserve the Piedmont region’s dwindling hardwood forests and pine ecosystems, the Fund worked closely with the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation, Georgia Forestry Commission, and USDA Forest Service to purchase a conservation easement on 2,500 acres of woodlands and streams in central Georgia. Nestled in the southernmost foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the forest will provide critical connections to the 23-mile Pine Mountain Trail and Franklin Delano Roosevelt State Park.

Chattooga River

The Fund purchased 230 critical acres along the West Fork of the Chattooga River. This property, once threatened by development, has been transferred to the USDA Forest Service as part of the Chattahoochee National Forest and can now be enjoyed as part of the Chattooga National Wild and Scenic River Corridor by outdoor and whitewater enthusiasts throughout the Southeast.

Connally Park

The Fund facilitated an unusual land exchange that will benefit both the environment and elementary school children. Accommodating growth while protecting natural resources, the agreement calls for the Fulton County Board of Education to return Connally Park — an area that boasts 200-year-old oaks — to the city of East Point with a land-preserving conservation easement held by America’s Watershed Landkeepers. The Board of Education, with support from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Turner Foundation, and local residents, purchased a nearby property and is building a new school there, scheduled to open in fall 2003. Green South Fulton and Trees Atlanta were among the many partners that contributed to this success story.

Lithonia

The Fund is working to revitalize the 19th century town of Lithonia, a gateway community to the Arabia Mountain Heritage Area. With support from Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance, the Fund is helping to restore Lithonia while protecting important open space and recreation areas. In 2003 the Fund supported the creation of a bike path linking Lithonia to the larger heritage area, the restoration of a historic African-American cemetery, and the protection of 1,400 acres of granite outcrops and rolling woodlands.

Read about the following projects in detail: