The Nature Conservancy has purchased nearly 2,200 acres of forestland atop Lookout Mountain, adjacent to the Little River Canyon National Preserve in Cherokee County, Ala.

The $3.6 million purchase from Hancock Timber Resource Group aims to protect sensitive freshwater and forest habitat in the Coosa River basin of northeast Alabama, northwest Georgia and southern Tennessee.

The Nature Conservancy expects to transfer the western third of the tract to the National Park Service for inclusion in the Little River Canyon National Preserve and plans to transfer the remaining land to the State of Alabama as part of the Little River Wildlife Management Area.

For more than 20 years, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has leased the land as part of the state’s Wildlife Management Area program.