The Sustainability Office is passionate about protecting the land we live on, and we work hard to ensure our environment will continue to thrive. Land management works to restore and maintain healthy and functioning natural areas and ecosystems as time goes on, while land protection is the type of conservation that preserves natural habitats, restores and protects historical land features, and records the legacy of the world around us for future generations. 

Sometimes it can seem like there are too many laws or rules about how our community should manage their land. However, these measures are put in place to help keep Athens-Clarke County’s land use responsible and sustainable. Through projects like the Legacy Forest Program and greenspace acquisition, as well as land ordinances and conservation easements, we work to preserve the land around us. This land has sustained those who came before us and, with thoughtful, research-based decision making will pass along a healthy, biologically rich and diverse community to generations coming after.