CAIRO — A recent survey conducted by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy has concluded that Grady County’s Red Hills hunting lands generated an estimated $9 million of local economic impact in 2017.

Neil Fleckenstein, Red Hills planning coordinator at Tall Timbers, wrote a letter to County Administrator Buddy Johnson outlining the study’s findings.

Fleckenstein said the study also found that 81 direct and indirect jobs from hunting in the Red Hills generated an estimate $4.2 million in total labor income for the county.

Most of the hunting lands are located on large hunting properties in the eastern part of Grady County in the Ochlocknee River watershed.

“These lands also provide bountiful supplies of drinking water, protect the quality of our water supply and provide habitat for dozens of listed wildlife species,” Fleckenstein said. “One of the best ways to ensure the long-term sustainability of our working rural lands is to support quality compact growth in our existing communities and curtail the incursion of residential and commercial development into rural areas.”

According to the study, the county experienced a 67 percent increase in local economic impact from its hunting properties from five years earlier, from $5.4 million in 2012 to $9 million in 2017.

Johnson said Fleckenstein will likely address the county board of commissioners in person at an undetermined future date.

“They’re probably one of the best conservation groups around,” Commissioner Ray Prince said of Tall Timbers. “They’ve got a basis for what they do. They’re factual. It isn’t just something off the wall.”

The study, which is based on a Tall Timbers survey of more than 135 Red Hills quail hunting properties, was conducted in partnership with the Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis (CEFA) at Florida State University.

CEFA determined that the regional economic impact of Red Hills hunting properties was $194.1 million in 2017, creating more than 1,700 jobs, which generated approximately $84 million in employment income in the region.

“This tremendous impact is the result of a wide range of operating, capital improvement and discretionary spending as well as local charitable contributions,” Fleckenstein said.

Tall Timbers published its findings in The Economic Impact of the Red Hills Region’s Quail Hunting Lands.