ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A nonprofit conservation group announced the sale Tuesday of a 15,500-acre tract to private owners in the western Adirondacks for $1.2 million.

The land on the outskirts of the towns of Webb and Long Lake remains protected by a conservation easement, the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy said. It was one of three tracts bought by the conservancy in 2001 from the International Paper Co.

The property includes five lakes and ponds, seven small mountains and wetlands. It is not open to the public.

As part of the transaction, the buyers gave the conservancy a conservation easement that protects an adjoining 2,400 acres of private land. The sale closed late last year, conservancy spokeswoman Connie Prickett said.

The tract, which was called the Thayer Lake Reserve, has been renamed the Shingle Shanty Preserve and Research Station. Ross Whaley, former Adirondack Park Agency chairman affiliated with the new preserve, said the intent is to use it to study ecological systems in partnership with other educational and research organizations. The easement prohibits logging or development, he said.

John Sheehan, spokesman for the Adirondack Council, said the buyers are from adjacent Brandreth Park, family members whose private land stewardship so far has good marks from the environmental group.

"It's not a recreational boost to the state, but ecologically it ensures he property will remain intact. Ecologically speaking it's probably better," he said.