Foothills Land Conservancy protected more than 11,000 acres last year, 112 of them in north Ga.

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Foothills Land Conservancy says it protected 11,711 acres in 2014 through 13 conservation easements, some of them in north Georgia.<br /> <br /> Director Bill Clabough told The (Maryville, Tenn.) Daily Times (http://bit.ly/17H7akS ) that the amount was a record for the Maryville, Tennessee-based organization, which conserved 11,000 acres in 2013 and 6,000 acres in 2012.<br /> <br /> The 2014 projects includes nearly 112 acres in Georgia, all in Lumpkin County. (See link below for details.)<br /> <br /> A conservation easement allows landowners to place permanent restrictions on the future uses of property.<br /> <br /> The Foothills Land Conservancy said it has protected a total of 58,711 acres to date in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.<br /> <br /> (AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)