Oil patch bits: Conservation project buys tract of coalfields forest

Petroleum News

The Nature Conservancy announced July 15 that the Cumberland Forest Project, managed by The Nature Conservancy, has acquired a quarter-million acres of working forest land in the Central Appalachian coalfields of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The project represents one of the largest land conservation and ecological restoration efforts pursued by The Nature Conservancy in the eastern United States in the organization’s 68-year history. With a total land area bigger than the Shenandoah National Park, the Cumberland Forest Project includes 100,000 acres spanning Kentucky and Tennessee, and another 153,000 acres in Virginia.

The Nature Conservancy plans to manage the property as a working forest, using sustainable practices to improve and maintain the health of the forests. The project is designed to protect and restore wildlife habitat, secure clean water for people and nature and sequester atmospheric carbon to mitigate climate change. At the same time, it aims to support outdoor recreation and foster important investments in local economies.

“The Cumberland Forest Project is a historic opportunity to blend conservation and economic development in a region where we have lived and worked for 30 years at a scale we have never seen before,” said Locke Ogens, state director for The Nature Conservancy in Virginia. “The Nature Conservancy is in a unique position here to change the way people think about nature’s value and put private capital to work to solve some of our most pressing challenges.”

For more information visit www.nature.org.