BEAUMONT, Texas — A
conservation easement in Jasper County, recently acquired by Texas A&M
Forest Service for $2.7 million, will permanently protect nearly 5,500 acres of
sustainably managed timberland in East Texas.
The easement is located
north of Jasper in the area known as Longleaf Ridge, a line of hills which
supports some of the only remaining longleaf pine forest in Texas and is home
to the region’s best spring-fed creeks, waterfalls and thriving wildlife populations.
Protection of this tract is part of an
ambitious conservation effort to connect the Angelina and Sabine National
Forests.
Funding for the purchase
was provided through the Forest Legacy Program and funded in part by grants
from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Texas Farm and Ranch Land
Conservation Program, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through
Walmart’s Acres for America Program and The Nature Conservancy.
"TPWD
has long recognized the ecological significance of the forests, streams, and
special habitats that make up Longleaf Ridge, and considers their protection to
be a high conservation priority for Texas,” Said Carter Smith, Executive
Director of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “This project epitomizes what
can be accomplished when the public and private sector work together to
accomplish lofty conservation goals."
Longleaf Ridge
lies within the historic longleaf pine ecosystem that once covered 90 million
acres of the United States. Less than 3 percent remains, making this easement a
priority for America's Longleaf Restoration Initiative, a national effort
focusing public and private resources on restoring and protecting longleaf pine
forests.
“This working lands
easement is a wonderful example of the conservation that the National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), through Walmart’s Acres for America Program,
supports,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO, NFWF. “Not only is it important for wildlife, but Longleaf
Ridge provides exceptional value as it lies in a priority area under the America’s
Longleaf Restoration Initiative, a partnership working to bring back the native
forest iconic to much of the southeastern United States.”
The conservation easement
was purchased from Crown Pine Timber LP, a limited partnership managed by
Campbell Global, a timber investment and management firm based in Portland,
Oregon. The easement will prohibit
subdivision and extensive development of the tract, while allowing timber
harvest to continue. The easement is
called Longleaf Ridge Phase II as it is the second tract protected in the area;
a nearby 4,785-acre easement was purchased in 2014.
The Forest Legacy Program
is a federal program funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund and
administered by the USDA Forest Service.
It encourages the voluntary protection of privately owned forestland
primarily through the acquisition of conservation easements. These easements
are legally binding agreements transferring development rights from one party
to another without removing the property from private ownership.
“Texas lands are owned
and managed primarily by private owners,” said Tom Boggus, Texas State
Forester. “They are critical in conserving and protecting our state’s trees,
forests and related natural resources.”
This type of conservation
– often called a working forest conservation easement – keeps forestlands in
private ownership while conserving the land for future generations. Landowners and local communities continue to
realize economic gain from timber management while the forest provides other
benefits such as watershed protection, wildlife habitat, recreation and scenic
values.
“This easement contains
many of the most important features that we want to conserve in East Texas,
including rare plants and more than 2,000 acres of longleaf pine forest which
has been restored by Campbell Global and Temple-Inland before them,” said David
Bezanson, The Nature Conservancy’s protection and easement manager.
Much of the property will
continue to be managed for longleaf pine with timber harvest allowed according
to a forest stewardship plan.
Learn more about the Longleaf
Ridge Phase II conservation easement and the Forest Legacy Program by visiting http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu/ForestLegacy/.
Read the National Fish
and Wildlife Foundation Acres for America news release by visiting http://www.nfwf.org/whoweare/mediacenter/pr/Pages/acres-for-america-supports-land-conservation-projects-in-eight-states-2017-1115.aspx
View images at https://flic.kr/s/aHskANmkfh.
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Contact
Gretchen
Riley, Texas A&M Forest Service Forest Legacy Coordinator, 979-458-7373, griley@tfs.tamu.edu
Texas A&M Forest Service Communications,
979-458-6606, newsmedia@tfs.tamu.edu