Former President Jimmy Carter’s family farmland will now be preserved and eventually opened to the public, thanks to an $8.5 million purchase by the Conservation Fund.
On Nov. 9, the national nonprofit announced its purchase of roughly 2,400 acres of farmland in Plains, Ga. The fund’s vice president of the Southeast Region, Stacy Funderburke, said his team purchased the land directly from the Carter family.
“The Carter family was getting ready to sell this farm, which was a historic site, and we were able to combine that with an adjacent property and add almost 2,500 acres to the Lanahassee Creek Wildlife Management Area,” Funderburke said.
The farmland is one of the first places where Jimmy Carter worked as a peanut farmer alongside his father. He also returned to the land several times as an adult for hunting and fishing trips,
Carter was a steward of the land – his last decision was to plant young longleaf pine on the property, boosting the region’s native forest and helping to protect the threatened gopher tortoise.
“The fact that this is a place where President Carter’s connection to the land and his commitment to conservation started many years ago and continued throughout his life, it’s really an honor the Conservation Fund can step in and continue that legacy,” Funderburke said.
He said the nonprofit is a go-to partner in “urgent moments.”
In this case, the Carter family wanted to sell, but the state didn’t have the funds on hand. The Conservation Fund had the money through its Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program. “Being able to step in and make that transaction happen on the timeline the seller and landowner is working on is really critical,” Funderburke said.
The Carter family was also on board with the conservation vision. They could have sold the land to anyone, but Funderburke said there was a “real recognition” among the family.
“For our family, this land was always about more than a farm,” President Carter’s grandson Jason Carter said in a statement. “It was home – a place my grandparents treasured. We’re grateful to the Conservation Fund and to everyone working to make sure it’s protected for generations to come.”
The Conservation Fund plans to transfer the land to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in 2028, where it will become part of the state’s Lanahassee Creek Wildlife Management Area. The addition will expand the area to nearly 7,000 acres of land.
In the meantime, the fund said there “will be work done,” but most of the effort was about protecting the land and keeping it from getting broken up. It will be reopened to the public for hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation by 2027.
“This is what President Carter and Rosalynn Carter would have wanted to see for this property,” Funderburke said. “To protect it forever.”
