LINCOLN- Neighbors of Ted Turner’s Nebraska ranches have long worried that after he’s gone, his nearly half-million acres of Sand Hills property will be donated to a nonprofit and drop off the property tax rolls, leaving them to pick up the tax-paying slack.

Turns out, it appears, they were half right — but he does plan to continue paying taxes.

Last week, Turner announced that he was turning over an 80,000-acre ranch north of Gordon to a nonprofit he formed that will conduct research and develop strategies to conserve ecosystems while raising bison and generating income off grazing lands.

Four other ranches in Nebraska’s Sand Hills owned by the CNN founder/philanthropist/bison rancher, he announced, might later be turned over to the same nonprofit, the Turner Institute for Ecoagriculture.

But Turner, one of the largest private landowners in the U.S., stated that the ranches will continue to pay property taxes, despite the new ownership by a nonprofit that could claim a tax exemption.

“I believe that local property taxes provide essential support for services on which our ranches and communities depend. The Institute will continue to pay its share of taxes to support the local communities,” said the 82-year-old Turner.

Turner, on his three ranches in Sheridan County, paid $459,240 in property taxes last year.

Turner, in the announcement about the Institute, said this: “Our company’s passion for the environment, conservation and sustainable practices continues to drive our mission of innovatively managing our lands to unite economic viability with ecological sustainability.”

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