ATLANTA – The New York-based Open Space Institute (OSI) Wednesday announced its fourth acquisition of undeveloped land in southeastern Georgia.
The nearly 2,500-acre Wayne County Conservation property is adjacent to more than 1,600 acres the OSI acquired and transferred to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) last year.
The new acquisition, made through a discounted sale and transfer by Southern Power, brings the public-private Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative to more than 80% of its goal of preserving enough pristine acreage to keep the gopher tortoise from being listed under the Endangered Species Act.
“The Open Space Institute is proud to have protected this amazing property for Georgia’s state reptile, the gopher tortoise, and the incredible array of other species that call this land home,” said Maria Whitehead, OSI’s senior project director. “I thank Southern Power for their incredible generosity in selling this property at a significantly discounted price to make the permanent protection of the land a reality.”
In addition to gopher tortoises, two other high priority species have been identified on the Wayne County Conservation property: the federally threatened eastern indigo snake and the federally endangered hairy rattleweed, a critically imperiled species that has shown significant population declines over the last 30 years.
“The hairy rattleweed is … found only in Brantley and Wayne counties, and this will become one of three conserved populations,” said Jason Lee of the DNR. “In addition, there is a viable population of the gopher tortoise, Georgia’s imperiled state reptile, on the property. The permanent protection of the site will contribute significantly to the recovery goals for both species.”
In the coming years, OSI plans to sell the Wayne County Conservation property to the DNR as a strategic addition to the adjacent OSI-protected property.
The OSI also has been involved in preserving two other undeveloped coastal properties: Cabin Bluff and the Ceylon tract.
The Georgia Board of Natural Resources voted this month to acquire 4,420 acres of the Ceylon tract from the OSI and The Conservation Fund. Board members signed off in October on the acquisition of nearly 8,000 acres of the Cabin Bluff property from the OSI and The Nature Conservancy.
Both properties are slated to become state wildlife management areas.