Sale
of Sensitive Land Will Preserve
Habitat and Support Research
Forest Systems announced today that it has completed the sale of a sensitive cave that provides important habitat for the endangered gray bat to The Nature Conservancy of Tennessee and the Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc.
The new Holly Creek Cave Preserve is located near Iron City, Tennessee. "This is an important cave to protect, not only for the federally endangered gray bat, but also for the state's rare Southern cave fish," said Heather Garland, The Nature Conservancy's (TNC) cave program coordinator.
TNC's financial donation was provided by the Wallace Research Foundation, which is based in Tucson, Arizona. According to Garland, the cave will be managed for scientific study, but access to it will be limited during the summer months when the bats are in residence.
Scott Griffin, southern region manager for Forest Systems, said his company operates forestland across the United States on behalf of large institutional investors, including pension funds.
Forest Systems currently oversees 350,000 acres in seven states (Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, California, Washington and Oregon) and manages each with an emphasis on optimizing its investment performance while practicing progressive and responsible stewardship. Griffin said this includes identifying lands with unique environmental characteristics, such as the bat cave, and working with public and private conservation groups to place them under permanent protection.
Mark Wolinsky, acquisitions chairperson with the Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc., (SCC), said his organization and The Nature Conservancy have entered into a memorandum of understanding to share resources and expertise in joint cave conservation projects across Tennessee. The SCC already protects another gray bat cave in north Georgia. It has an estimated population of 10,000 bats. The SCC currently manages 16 preserves containing more than 32 caves that are located on 16,733 acres in six southeastern states. The majority of caves are on property owned by the SCC. The remaining preserves are managed through property leases. You can learn more about the SCC by visiting their web site at www.scci.org.
The Nature Conservancy is a private, international, nonprofit organization established in 1951 to preserve plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The organization owns and manages more than 1,340 preserves, the largest private system of nature sanctuaries in the world. You can visit The Nature Conservancy at www.nature.org. For more information, please contact Gina Hancock, Director of Communications at The Nature Conservancy, at 615-383-9909.