FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2021
Forest Legacy Grants Acquire 23,000 Acres in 2020 to Conserve Southern Forests
COLLEGE STATION, TX — The Southern Region of the U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program acquired 23,327 acres in 2020, utilizing nearly $23 million in the form of competitive grants for conservation easements and fee simple purchases. Through this program, Texas A&M Forest Service acquired Fox Hunters Hill, a $1.6 million conservation easement consisting of over 2,387 acres of sustainably managed forestland adjacent to the Sabine National Forest.
The Forest Legacy Program was
created in 1990 to protect forested lands that may be at risk due to urban
development and deforestation. Through the
program, Texas A&M Forest Service works with landowners on a “willing buyer
/ willing seller” basis to help them keep their forests forested, enhance
sustainable forest management, support strong markets for forest products,
enhance soils and water values, protect biological diversity, recreation,
wildlife habitat and more.
“We are proud to have built
tangible partnerships with state and federal agencies, land trusts and other
conservation organizations,” said Ken Arney, a Southern Regional Forester with
the US Forest Service. “We are grateful for their continued support and
commitment to keeping forests as forests so that future generations can enjoy
the benefits of nature.”
The Forest Legacy Program focuses
on protecting privately owned forests with significant environmental and
economic importance – especially forests that are susceptible to becoming
non-forested land.East Texas is
particularly at risk as urban populations continue to increase, expanding from
city centers into working forest lands. The likelihood of keeping those forests
working – both economically and ecologically – is greatly reduced in the face
of rapid urban expansion. Conservation easements change that.
“A conservation easement is an interest in land acquired to
protect certain conservation values,” explained Gretchen Riley, the Forest
Legacy Program Coordinator at Texas A&M Forest Service. “It is a good way
to assure important, vulnerable landscapes – and the benefits they provide to
Texans – are sustained for the future.”
Fox Hunters Hill is just 1 of 10 projects completed across
the south in the past year through the Forest Legacy Program. It borders a
213,000-acre complex of protected lands off the Angelina and Sabine National
Forests in East Texas, and it contains one of the last undeveloped coves of the
Toledo Bend Reservoir. It also lies within the Longleaf Ridge Conservation Area
along a rare geologic formation that runs between the two largest lakes in
Texas.
The Toledo Bend Reservoir is a drinking water source for
many communities in East Texas and Western Louisiana, and Fox Hunters Hill helps
maintain water quality for that source. It’s also known for having some of the
last remaining stands of historic longleaf pine ecosystems in Texas. Over the
last 12 years, the landowner has restored much of the property to longleaf
pine, increasing the number of flora and fauna species found in the area. The
Forest Legacy Program will help protect and conserve that ecosystem.
“Fox Hunters Hill is located in a highly desirable area for
recreation homes, with some of the highest elevations in the county,” said
Riley. “This working forest conservation easement acquired by TFS through funds
from the USFS Forest Legacy Program will protect the property from subdivision
and development, maintaining its high conservation value and keeping the forest
in forests.”
Fox Hunters Hill is the seventh conservation easement
acquired within the state of Texas by the Forest Legacy Program, including the Burleson
Wetlands, Turkey Creek and Longleaf Ridge. Altogether, these lands comprise a
total of 33,000 acres throughout East Texas – and each one plays a separate,
but significant, role in the conservation of cherished Texas forests.
Recorded celebrations of the projects can be viewed by clicking the following links. Part One: Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and South Carolina, and Part Two: Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas. For a full list of projects, please visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/private-land/forest-legacy/program.
For more information about the Forest Legacy Program at
Texas A&M Forest Service, or to find out if your property qualifies for a
conservation easement project, visit https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/ForestLegacy/.
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Contacts:
Gretchen Riley, Urban
and Community Forestry Program Leader, Texas A&M Forest Service, griley@tfs.tamu.edu,
(979) 458-6650
Texas A&M Forest Service Communications Office, newsmedia@tfs.tamu.edu,
979-458-6606