By Ron Jackson

Daily Oklahoman

CACHE - If conservationists succeed in creating a greenbelt buffer zone around Fort Sill, they will forever remember A.J. Ryder.

Ryder became the first landowner Monday to sell his property into the Fort Sill Army Compatible Use Buffer Program, which is designed to create a conservation easement around the historic post. Ryder will retain ownership of his 300-acre ranch but will be forever prohibited from developing the land for commercial or residential use.

Fifteen other landowners, whose property encompasses about 4,000 acres, have reportedly committed to the program.

"Over the next; three months, I would expect to seek several more land acquisitions," said Robert Gregory, executive, director of Land Legacy - a Tulsa-based nonprofit land-conservation organization designated by the Department of Defense to hold the acquired land in trust.

"Most of the landowners we have approached want the same thing. They really want to see the land left as ag land, and this program gives them that economic option."

More than $2.5 million has been collected from the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Comanche County Industrial Development Authority, and the State of Oklahoma to purchase the conservation rights. Easements will generally be purchased for between 50 percent and 80 percent of its appraised value.

Land Legacy approached Ryder three years ago with the concept. "Some people approached me about developing the property," said Ryder, 72, and a retired Lawton businessman. "But I didn't want to see homes built all over the property. I wanted to keep it as cattle range land.

"This allowed me to keep the land as it is now."

For landowner Mark Woods, the prospect of committing 140 acres to the conservation, program is both sentimental and economic. Woods signed an option agreement and is awaiting a final offer.

His property is a half-mile from the Ryder ranch.