Open Space Institute

Southern Power Tract
Wayne County, GA

Open Space Institute (“OSI”) was loaned $2 million to facilitate OSI’s purchase of the 2,418-acre Southern Power tract in Wayne County, GA. The value of the property was about $5.8 million at purchase and loan closing, with the balance of the acquisition funding provided by Southern Power and Knobloch Family Foundation. The property is especially important for the Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative effort to permanently protect 65 of the 122 viable tortoise populations in GA. The property also contains Hairy Rattleweed, a highly endangered plant which only occurs in GA and then only within Wayne and Brantley Counties. It is intended upon loan payoff the property will be transferred to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for public use.