 |
|
|
 |
|
by Bobby Davenport |
|
|
On August 28 the Lula Lake Land Trust and the Trust for Public Land signed a one-year option with Highland Ventures, LLC, for the 1,200 acres that separate the Trust from Cloudland Canyon State Park. This transaction marks the latest step towards creating an unbroken 7800-acre conservation landscape available for a wide range of uses. Here is how it works:
• The Drummond family has signed an option for the sale of 1200 acres to The Trust for Public Land. This is the "Cloudland Connector," and the first piece of this transaction will close before the end of the year.
• The Lula Lake Land Trust has agreed to sell to the State of Georgia 600 acres at its southern end. This tract includes much of Round Mountain. The sale will be at about the same price that LLLT purchased the property, and this discount plus the Drummond family’s bargain sale allows the State to use public funds. An anonymous supporter is also aiding the transaction.
These two transactions will nearly double the size of Cloudland Canyon State Park.
• The state of Georgia will enter an agreement with the Lula Lake Land Trust to provide law enforcement and resource management for the entire assemblage. This will allow us to open more of the Trust to the public. The development will spread usage over 15 miles rather than focusing only at the lake and falls.
The Trust has hired a landscape architect and planner for this project. Now that the option is secure, he will begin a process for refining ideas about connections to existing communities and appropriate uses of the land.
The process described above will take between three and four years.
There is also an opportunity to connect this landscape to the greenways surrounding Chattanooga through the National Military Park on the western side of Lookout Mountain. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
© 2010 Lula Lake Land Trust & Three HD |
|
|
|
