“Ikea’s investment group recently acquired nearly 11,000 acres of land in southeast Georgia, taking it under its wing to protect it from development, and to keep its hundreds of plant and wildlife species safe.
The Ingka Group, which owns and operates most of the popular Swedish retailer’s stores, recently acquired approximately 10,840 acres of land near the Altamaha River Basin from The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit that over the years has worked to protect more than 8 million acres of land.
The area is home to more than 350 plant and wildlife species that will now be protected from harm, including the endangered longleaf pine and gopher tortoise, according to CNN.
The longleaf pine can live for over 300 years, but currently covers less than 3 percent of its original range after most of it disappeared by the 1920s, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
The gopher tortoise, meanwhile, has been threatened over the years by habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation, mainly from urbanization and development, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The new acquisition brings Ingka Investment’s ownership to 136,000 acres across Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma, manager director Krister Mattsson said in a statement….”
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