Public access to Bartow’s 14,000-acre ‘Yellowstone’ coming to an end

Negotiations continue for the state to buy privately-owned Pine Log WMA

Originally posted on 5/31/23 by Zachary Hansen, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For now, the only living things allowed to visit a massive wildlife area northwest of Atlanta will be deer, turkeys, bears and trout — in addition to the family who owns the land.

Public access to the Pine Log Wildlife Management Area in Bartow County ended Thursday amid development and sale negotiations by the family who has owned the 14,000-acre plot for nearly a century. The Department of Natural Resources has leased the land for the past 46 years and is negotiating to buy the property, but those discussions have languished for months.

Since May 15, public access has been limited only to Pine Log’s main entrance off Stamp Creek Road northeast of Cartersville, but the main entrance will be locked by this morning, a DNR spokesperson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In response to the drawn-out state negotiations, the Neel family is hedging their bets by pursuing a back-up development plan that would transform the untamed wild into thousands of housing units and expansive swaths of industry over the next 20 years.

Bartow County’s sole commissioner, Steve Taylor, rezoned the land in April after hearing hours of critical comments from residents who worry development will change their county’s character and destroy prime hunting, fishing and hiking land.

Discussions around the property, which is about55 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta, have centered around the public want to preserve their “Yellowstone” versus the property owners’ right to do what they wish with their swath of land. A petition to “Save Pine Log” has amassed more than 13,000 signatures.