Conservation Fund Buys Jimmy Carter Family Farm for $8.5 Million, Aiming to Protect 2,500 Acres
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 9
Conservation Fund Buys Jimmy Carter Family Farm for $8.5 Million, Aiming to Protect 2,500 Acres
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 9
Summary
$8.5 million bought Jimmy Carter’s family farm outside Plains, Georgia, with the Conservation Fund acquiring nearly 2,500 acres the Carter family had worked for generations.
The nonprofit plans to permanently protect the fields and forests, then eventually transfer them to Georgia and fold them into the nearby Lanahassee Creek Wildlife Management Area.
That expansion would bring the combined protected area to about 7,000 acres and open it to hunters, anglers and the broader public while preserving habitat for longleaf pine ecosystems and threatened gopher tortoises.
Amy Carter said she and her brothers quickly backed the sale because it matched their father’s vision of stewardship; the nearby Jimmy Carter National Historical Park is unaffected.
The deal also underscores Carter’s conservation legacy after the former president, who died in late 2024 at 100, spent decades managing the land and championed major federal protections including more than 100 million acres in Alaska.
How will Georgia balance feral hog hunting with preserving the pristine longleaf pine habitat of Jimmy Carter's historic family farm?
Could turning a presidential family farm into public hunting grounds set a radical new precedent for how historical legacies are preserved?
What hidden historical secrets might visitors discover as a former president's private 2,500-acre retreat transforms into a public wildlife management area?