The Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest is growing — by about 548 acres.The U.S. Forest Service on Friday announced that $40.6 million will go to 15 states for land acquisition projects, including $2 million for three projects in Georgia.Those include an 8-acre tract on the Chattahoochee River north of Helen, a 100-acre tract in Gilmer County and a 440-acre tract in Putnam and Jones counties.“We manage the national forest under a multiple-use and sustained-yield conservation mission, protecting and maintaining the resources for use by us today as well as in the future,” said Mitch Cohen, a spokesman for the Forest Service, who works out of the Gainesville office.Though the White County tract is small, Cohen said the land is important given its prime location on the river. The estimated purchase price is $37,000, he said.“That kind of property is always of value to developers,” he said. “So that’s particularly important to protect as part of the national forest, for not only healthy forests but clean water in the Chattachoochee River.”Georgia’s national forests are near large population centers, and the acquisitions focus on providing recreation opportunities and protecting watershed and wetlands in “an area where the viability and availability of clean, abundant water is critical,” according to a news release from the U.S. Forest Service.The projects nationwide were selected based on ability to safeguard watersheds, provide recreational access, restore healthy forests, mitigate climate change, defend communities from wildfire, create management efficiency and reconnect fragmented landscapes and ecosystems, according to the news release.“We keep an inventory of tracts that we’re looking at and every year we submit a proposal to Washington for the tracts that we would like to have funded,” Cohen said.