Jimmy Carter's family farm set to become protected public land

Zoom in: The Carter family acquired the land around the turn of the 20th century, Stacy Funderburke, the nonprofit's vice president of the central Southeast region, told Axios.

• Jimmy Carter and his father planted peanuts, corn and sugarcane and hunted turkeys on the land. Carter also fished on the property, including in a pond where he had his famous (and sensationalized) encounter with a "swamp rabbit."
• Today, the property is mostly forest, Funderburke said. One of Carter's last land-management decisions was to replant longleaf pines, restoring the native habitat.

What they're saying: "Long before Jimmy Carter protected millions of acres across America, he was a boy working the fields and roaming the woods of southwest Georgia," Funderburke said in a statement.

• "This land shaped him and his legacy, and he never stopped coming home to it."

The big picture: The acquisition, which includes a separate tract purchased from another landowner, will expand the Lanahassee Creek Wildlife Management Area to nearly 7,000 acres.

• Funderburke said the land cost roughly $8 million.

What's next: The Conservation Fund expects the property to open to the public for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation as soon as 2027.

• The nonprofit plans to transfer ownership to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in 2028.