The Conservation Fund announced on November 9 that it had acquired the Carter family farm, spanning approximately 2,458 acres near Plains, Georgia, with plans to protect it as wildlife habitat and eventually open it to the public. The acquisition will expand the state’s Lanahassee Creek Wildlife Management Area to nearly 7,000 acres, according to the organisation’s announcement. The fields and forests where former US President Jimmy Carter spent his childhood, worked alongside his father and later escaped the pressures of public life are set to become part of a much larger conservation landscape.
Carter returned to the property in 1953 after leaving the US Navy and taking over the family business following his father’s death. The Conservation Fund helped Georgia establish the existing wildlife area in 2019, with a focus on protecting longleaf pine habitat and threatened gopher tortoises. In December 1980, he signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, protecting more than 104 million acres and marking the largest expansion of protected public lands in US history. He also established 39 units of the National Park System, including the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site and the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in Atlanta.
Because its underground burrows provide shelter to numerous other animals, the gopher tortoise is considered a keystone species. Protecting its habitat can therefore benefit a wider range of wildlife.
He said the family was grateful that the land would be protected for future generations. Carter had requested that the property be restored to its native condition, according to The Conservation Fund. The Conservation Fund said the newly acquired property is important habitat for the threatened tortoise, while creeks adjacent to the land support rare freshwater mussels.
Carter’s father, James Earl Carter Sr, cultivated peanuts, corn and sugarcane there, and the future president spent much of his childhood working in the fields and exploring the surrounding woods and creeks. Even after entering politics and eventually becoming the country’s 39th president, he continued to visit the farm, finding time to walk through the woods, hunt turkeys and fish in its pond. His wife, Rosalynn Carter, and their children also shared a connection with the landscape. The former president and his wife often visited the property to walk and spend time outdoors, treating it as a place to escape the demands of public life. The family has welcomed the conservation group’s acquisition. Carter’s grandson, Jason Carter, described the property as more than a farm, calling it home and a place his grandparents treasured. At his request, the family retained a stand of mature longleaf pines, and one of his final land-management decisions involved replanting much of the property with young longleaf pine trees. The restored habitat also makes the land a natural extension of the nearby Lanahassee Creek Wildlife Management Area. The wider landscape also supports birds and other wildlife, making the proposed expansion significant for both habitat protection and outdoor recreation. Carter’s connection with the Georgia landscape was reflected in his environmental record as governor and president. His environmental initiatives included supporting the protection of wilderness areas and installing solar panels on the White House roof.