State To Sell Pristine Prairie Near Fort Worth

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The General Land Office has scheduled the sale of what community activists say is one of the few patches of remaining North Texas prairie untouched by a plow.

Jarid Manos has been leading an effort to buy from the state agency the 2,000 acres of prairie south of Fort Worth for preservation.

But time has run out. The General Land Office has placed the sale of the land on its Tuesday agenda, eight years after buying it for $21 million.

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (http://bit.ly/1bAmaic) that he sympathizes with Manos. However, he says his duty is to make money for the Permanent School Fund from the sale of state land.

The land is near Benbrook Lake 18 miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth.

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Information from: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, http://www.star-telegram.com