By Tom Droege

Tulsa World

When Sand Springs resident Mark Perry found out a a proposal was on the table to build 2,500 homes in the rolling countryside near his house, he bought 492 acres to protect the untouched land form development.

That was more than 10 years ago. In the time since then, a PGA club professional with the support of Jack Nicklaus' design company approached him about building a 36 hole golf course on the Osage Country property.

But the economic downturn, exacerbated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused investors in the golf course idea to get cold feet, Perry said. The project, to be called The Gauntlet at Black Jack Ridge, never materialized.

This week, Perry completed a new deal with several real estate investors and Land Legacy, a local nonprofit land conservation organization.

Perry's company, Windward Properties Inc., donated to Land Legacy 288 acres, which is protected in the conservation easement. The easement will preserve natural resources such as streams and forest areas while allowing for open space uses such as hiking and bird watching, said Robert Gregory, director of Land Legacy.

The remaining 210 acres was sold in eight parcels to investors who plan to build single-family homes or larger residential developments at the site just north of Sand Springs, Gregory said.

"This part of the metro area is developing rapidly," Perry said. "Our donation will help to ensure that new development doesn't destroy natural resources."

In July, local developer Lindsay Perkins worked a similar arrangement with Land Legacy on property north of the land that PErry sold and donated. Perkins and business partner Alan Ringle purchased more than 1,300 acres and plan to donate about 250 acres in phases for conservation easement as homes are built.

They named the area the Preservation District. The master plan calls for as many as 900 homes to be constructed on the hills, while the conservation easements are in the valleys and surrounding the main road into the community.

Land Legacy officials are talking with the owner of land between the former Perry property and the Preservation District about the possibility of a conservation easement.

"Once you get a foothold like this, it's easier to make more happen," said Mark Sontag, project manager at Land Legacy.

The Preservation District also connects with the site of the planned Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden and Post Oak Lodge, a newly opened corporate getaway.

"This donation is very significant both in terms of nature resource protection and for creating outdoor recreation opportunities," Gregory said. "It's very near other protected land and may help to create a natural connection from the city of Sand Springs and the planned botanical gardens."

Perry, and energy trading consultant, said he and his family are moving to Jenks to be closer to school and sporting events. But he's glad most of the land and its knobby outcroppings and caves will safe from development forever.