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AGFC agrees to purchase conservation easement

HERMITAGE - Hailing it as a wonderful opportunity, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission last week voted to create a conservation easement on 60,000 acres of private property in Calhoun and Bradley counties.

The Potlatch Corporation presently owns the property. The easement will be created in partnership between the AGFC, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the Nature Conservancy and Potlatch. After the conservation easement is established, it will provide access to the public. Estimated costs of the permanent easement are approximately $350 per acre.
Commissioners were extremely excited to get a chance to manage the land for the public's use. "This is an opportunity to secure this land for eons," said Commissioner John Benjamin of Glenwood. "It will give hunters in south Arkansas a wonderful opportunity to have lands to hunt on. Commissioner Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock added, "We will have that forever. I don't remember anything like this since I've been here."

Although no formal agreement has been reached, Jim Newberry, Potlatch's regional resource manager, said that Potlatch and the partnering organizations would work to establish processes for developing, implementing and securing funding for the easement. Newberry described last week's vote by the Commission to pursue the agreement as an exciting first step in the process. "If a working-forest conservation easement is established, everyone wins. A key benefit is the perpetuation of a sustainable working forest. By preventing the conversion of protected forestland to residential development or other incompatible land uses, jobs are maintained in our local communities and enhanced recreational opportunities are assured."

Potlatch would continue to manage the lands for timber production, wildlife, clean water and biodiversity. The land being evaluated is home to breeding clusters of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, and has been managed since 1995 under a habitat conservation plan developed with the US Department of the Interior.

 

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