Partnership protects 929 acres of Georgia 'prairie'

ROME - A Texas-based timber company and the Nature Conservancy have teamed to protect 929 acres of northwest Georgia in a landscape called the Coosa Valley Prairie. <br> <br> The conservancy and Temple-Inland Forest Products Corp. announced plans Monday for the Floyd County land adjacent to the Alabama line, where pine forests surround more than two dozen miniature prairies resembling those of the Great Plains. <br> <br> Experts say the site is home to more than 41 rare and endangered animals and plants to be spared the perils of development. <br> <br> ``I&#39;ve heard those prairies called the rarest land in Georgia,&#39;&#39; said Brent Martin, executive director of Georgia Forestwatch in Ellijay. <br> <br> Temple-Inland, which will receive tax breaks in return for giving up development rights, signed an agreement last summer with the conservancy to identify, protect and manage sites on 2.1 million acres of forestland in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. About 350,000 acres is in Georgia. <br> <br> Since then, two other conservation efforts netted another 2,315 acres in north Georgia where development is more intense. In June, the last piece was acquired for the Burnt Mountain Preserve near the town of Jasper, in the Appalachian foothills. <br> <br> In November, the state added the Cloudland Connector to its holdings, linking the state park to a 4,500-acre preserve called the Lula Lake Land Trust.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/2/183313