Auburn Forestry Alum Creates Conservation Site For Endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker

By Maggie Smith
Auburn University

Charley Tarver has dedicated his life to conserving the longleaf pine ecosystem. So in 1999, when presented the opportunity to buy a plantation in southwest Georgia, he did not hesitate.

Tarver, a 1968 alumnus of Auburn University’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences and founder of Forest Investment Associates, has turned his longleaf pine forest into a conservation site for the endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, or RCWs.

“A significant portion of Longleaf Plantation is old growth longleaf forest with an open understory, primarily occupied by wiregrass and other warm-season native grasses and legumes. It is prime habitat for RCWs,” Tarver said.Tarver’s Longleaf Plantation was the third property in Georgia to be enrolled in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Safe Harbor Agreement for RCWs in 2001. As of today, Tarver believes there are about a dozen RCWs living on his property.

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