The U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program recently helped acquire a conservation easement on 5,438 acres of land owned by Campbell Global (CG). CG is a timber investment management organization (TIMO) which acquires and manages forest lands for investors so that they can make a profit.
The 5,438 acres is near a 4,785-acre property that also has a conservation easement acquired under the Forest Legacy Program. The Forest Legacy Program allows for purchase of conservation easements for lands that are managed for tree growing and logging purposes to keep these forests from being developed into residential, commercial, industrial, and other incompatible developments. This allows for these forests to be grown and logged and re-grown (so-called “working forests” although all forests “work” whether logged or not).
The Nature Conservancy partly funded the conservation easement which allows for timber cuts but also protects waterfalls, pitcher plant bogs, and more 2,000 acres of Longleaf Pine forest. Texas A&M, via its Texas Forest Service, will monitor the easement to ensure that it protects important ecological lands.
Others who provided funding and or supported the acquisition of the conservation easement include Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, funds from Walmart through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Texas Conservation Alliance, National Wild Turkey Federation, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The lands under conservation easement, plus over 32,000 acres that the U.S. Forest Service manages as Longleaf Ridge in the Angelina National Forest, protect some of the best Longleaf Pine forest left in Texas and the United States.
The Sierra Club supports the use of the Forest Legacy Program to protect important forest and other ecosystems that exist in East Texas. For more information contact Brandt Mannchen, brandtshnfbt@juno.com.
This article is based upon information obtained from the Texas Conservation Alliance, an affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation.
Brandt Mannchen
April 19, 2018