Georgia Piedmont Natural Resources Cooperative

Enhance the quality of your land, its wildlife and your investment.  Join the Georgia Piedmont Natural Resources Cooperative.

Georgia is one of the fastest growing states in the country.  The Piedmont area is especially attractive to newcomers.  Unfortunately, such popularity brings with it an exploding population and urban sprawl.

The Georgia Piedmont Natural Resources Cooperative (GPNRC) was established to promote the stewardship of natural resources across a broad landscape and reduce the loss of forest and farmland due to unmanaged urban growth.  The cooperative provides opportunities for landowners with different management objectives to work together for the benefit of all.

The Georgia Piedmont Cooperative includes the counties of Baldwin, Bibb, Butts, Jasper, Jones, Monroe, Morgan, Newton and Putnam.  To date, participating GPNRC members own or lease more than 200,000 acres in this area.

Goals

Among the goals of the Piedmont Cooperative:

• Share the best available science-based information to make decisions;
• Educate the public about the need for cooperative wildlife management;
• Promote the management of natural resources that maintains traditional uses such as hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation, forestry, wildlife management and agriculture.

Benefits

By joining the Piedmont Cooperative you:

• Get to meet and know your fellow landowners.
• Cooperatively develop plans with wildlife and forestry professionals to benefit your land.
• Receive a broader understanding of what your neighbors are doing with their land.
• Further develop partnerships with your neighbors towards mutual goals for conservation which includes considerations for wildlife, forest, soil, water, outdoor recreation and aesthetics management.  Examples of programs include the Georgia Forest Stewarship Program. 
• Learn more about landowner outreach programs and incentives and opportunities from public and private cooperators.
• Learn more about the Georgia Piedmont and the living things that call your land home.
• Cooperate with researchers to learn more about wildlife on your land.
• Learn what you can do to leave a healthy legacy for future generations.

Major Partners

• Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division
• Georgia Power
• Hitchiti/Brender Experimental Forest
• The Timber Company
• U.S. Forest Service
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• University of Georgia Warnell School of Forest Resources
• Weyerhaeuser

For more information about the GPNRC or how to join, contact Nathan Klaus, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, 116 Rum Creek Drive, Forsyth, Georgia 31029, (478) 994-1438, or by e-mail.