Nature Conservancy buys 100,000 acres in Ky. and Tenn.; timbering, mining will continue; mineral estate is separate

Nature Conservancy map

The Nature Conservancy announced today that a timber company has sold it 100,000 acres of forest land in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee that will continue to be logged for timber -- and mined for coal, because only the surface of the property is changing hands, not the mineral estate.

Tyler Whetstone of the Knoxville News Sentinel asked Terry Cook, Tennessee director for the national nonprofit organization, about the likelihood of mining. He writes, "Cook downplayed this possibility and said if there was mining on the property, it would be on a “very small percentage” and said TNC would work with the company to restore the land." Reclamation of mined land is required by federal law, but the quality of reclamation varies with state regulation and landowner attitudes. The Nature Conservancy said it would try to minimize the impact of mining, Matt Mencarini reports for the Louisville Courier Journal.

David Phemister, Kentucky director of The Nature Conservancy, "would not comment on what percentage of the purchase price was financed by carbon offsets," through which industries mitigate their carbon pollution by financing projects that absorb carbon, WDRB-TV in Louisville reports. "He said the land is privately owned and the seller was a single client of Jackson, Miss.-based Molpus Woodlands Group."

The Nature Conservancy said the tract, called Ataya, would be one of its largest conservation and ecological restoration projects in Central Appalachia, and its research has shown the Cumberland Mountains to be "one of the nation’s most important corridors for animal migration as the region’s climate changes," Whetstone reports. Like the Great Smoky Mountains to the southeast, they "are especially crucial because the varying elevations and topography provide habitat diversity for birds and dozens of mammals. That all of that is preserved in mostly one large chunk of land is a plus, Cook said."

The group said it would work with local communities to support opportunities for outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, among other things. “It’s not going to be set up as a preserve that keeps people out, but we’re going to work with our local partners and the communities,” Cook said. “The public will have access to it.” The property will link to three publicly owned preserves: Kentucky Ridge State Forest, the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area in Tennessee, and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in the two states and Virginia.