The Conservation Fund and Open Space Institute has bought a 16,000-acre site along the Satilla River east of Woodbine, furthering the goal of protecting 65 of the roughly 122 viable gopher tortoise populations in the Georgia.

The Conservation Fund and Open Space Institute has bought a 16,000-acre site along the Satilla River east of Woodbine, furthering the goal of protecting 65 of the roughly 122 viable gopher tortoise populations in the Georgia. / AP

Conservation groups have purchased a swath of land that they describe as one of the largest unprotected open space parcels along the southeast Atlantic coast.

The Conservation Fund and Open Space Institute announced Friday that they had bought the 16,000-acre (65-square-kilometer) site along the Satilla River east of Woodbine. They declined to say how much they paid for it.

The groups plan to sell it within the next few years to the state of Georgia for use as a wildlife management area where people can hunt, fish and hike.

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