CODY - The Nature Conservancy's sale of 1,200 acres near Heart Mountain will benefit the conservancy's innovative grass bank project, officials say.

South Fork residents Glenn and Vicki Warren bought the land under a deed restriction that will limit future development to no more than three potential homesites, according to a news release from the conservancy. The property buffers "important natural areas and the abundant wildlife that live there."

This lowland range property is next to the conservancy's Heart Mountain Ranch. Proceeds from the sale - the financial terms of which were not disclosed - will help support the Heart Mountain grass bank project, now in its third year.

"The sale of this property will help us to keep key components of Heart Mountain Ranch intact," said Laura Bell, director of the conservancy's Absarokas Program, based in Cody.

"We feel grateful for this opportunity of a lifetime," Glenn Warren said in the release. "We intend to preserve and enhance nature's habitat on this beautiful ranch. It will be our home."

The Nature Conservancy maintains a conservation buyer program through which conservation-minded landowners may acquire unique properties, sold with land preservation agreements specific to each property.