RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The nonprofit Nature Conservancy announced Monday it has partnered with private investors to acquire over a quarter-million acres (101,000 hectares) of forest land in the coalfields of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.

The group said its new Cumberland Forest Project is designed to not only protect the land but also to make money through sustainable forestry, carbon offsets, recreational leases and the eventual sale of the properties. It's a model that allows conservation at a scale impossible through philanthropy alone, officials said.

"The Cumberland Forest Project deplo...