Forest Legacy Forest Legacy Georgia Land Conservation Program

Forest Legacy

Working with the Georgia Forestry Commission, Callaway Gardens completed the first Forest Legacy conservation easement in Georgia. The goals of the federally funded Forest Legacy program closely match Callaway’s goals of land stewardship and environmental education.

Forest Legacy partners with individual states to help protect privately owned, environmentally sensitive lands from being converted to non-forest use. This innovative program provides funding for conservation easements on threatened forest properties. These conservation easements allow the government to obtain a negotiated set of rights, while property ownership remains with the private landowner. This agreement is legally binding and is ongoing. In the case of Callaway, this means the land included in Forest Legacy easement will never be developed, but will be conserved as a well managed forest and used for environmental purposes such as habitat studies and other environmental research as well as environmental education.

To win the funding, Callaway Gardens competed nationally and ranked ninth out of 45 funded projects because of the biological importance of the 2,507 acres included in the project.

One of the requirements to receive Forest Legacy funding was to find matching funds. These matching funds were generously provided, in part, by The Home Depot Foundation.

The easement restrictions cover 2,507 acres of ecologically important forest land southwest of the existing Gardens and Resort at Callaway. The types of forest protected on this tract include upland and bottomland hardwoods, mixed pine hardwoods and stands of rare Longleaf Pine.

The focus of managing these lands for the future includes restoration of the Longleaf Pine community, elimination of invasive exotic plants, maintaining high water quality, and implementing new environmental education programs on the land.

"Being selected as a Forestry Legacy project identifies Callaway Gardens as an organization truly dedicated to land stewardship and environmental education," said Edward Callaway. "We are pleased to have worked with the Georgia Forestry Commission, U.S. Forest Service, The Conservation Fund, Georgia State Properties Commission, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, The Georgia Conservancy and Oxbow Meadows to attract dollars for conservation easements from the Forest Legacy for the first time in the state’s history." Callaway added, "It is our hope that attracting these funds to Georgia will open the doors for other worthwhile projects around the state, including further projects at Callaway."