Environmentalists preserve old-growth longleaf pines in untouched Georgia forest

THOMASVILLE - Each day, Gary Palmer walks through a forest at Greenwood Plantation that is essentially the same as it was half a millennium ago, seeing animals and plants that are dwindling throughout the South. <br> <br> ``I learn something everyday,&#39;&#39; said Palmer, 41, who began working at the plantation as a boy and is now the manager. ``There may be a plant out there that could cure AIDS or cancer. No one knows what&#39;s all here.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The 5,200-acre plantation was the winter home of New York investor John Whitney, former owner of the New York Mets and publisher of the New York Herald Tribune. Whitney appreciated the natural state of the south Georgia woods and maintained it, entertaining guests such as President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy in the estate&#39;s antebellum mansion. <br> <br> The jewel of the plantation is the 1,000-acre tract of old-growth longleaf pines a species that once spread across the South before practically disappearing. Environmentalists say the plantation is an important habitat for several species that are endangered, threatened or just in trouble, including pine snakes, gopher tortoises, Bachman&#39;s sparrows, several types of orchids, the Turk&#39;s cap lily and red-cockaded woodpeckers. <br> <br> Whitney died in 1982 followed by his wife in 1998, leaving the plantation to a foundation. Starting Sept. 1, The Nature Conservancy the world&#39;s largest conservation group will begin managing the plantation. It will take ownership of the land after a year. <br> <br> ``Greenwood is truly a special place,&#39;&#39; said Steve McCormick, The Nature Conservancy&#39;s president and chief executive officer. ``This management agreement offers us the opportunity to protect a rapidly disappearing longleaf pine habitat.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Two-hundred years ago, the Southeast was covered with more than 90 million acres of longleaf pines. Now, less than 3 percent of the original forest remains. <br> <br> The trees at Greenwood are 400 to 500 years old and the forest is largely untouched by humans, having never been used for grazing or logging a rarity in the Eastern United States. Red-cockaded woodpeckers, which prefer trees that are at least 80 years old for nesting cavities, thrive at Greenwood because of the old-growth pines, many of them towering 120 feet above the forest floor. <br> <br> Leon Neel, a forest and ecology consultant on the plantation for 52 years, said the Whitneys, who lived in Manhasset, N.Y., appreciated the plantation&#39;s natural qualities and made sure they were preserved. <br> <br> During a plantation tour, Neel and Palmer pointed to some small pitcher plants growing in a low area and Palmer pulled a stalk of toothache grass. Neel said Indians chewed the plant&#39;s roots to ease their toothaches. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s just like Novocain,&#39;&#39; Palmer said. <br> <br> They strolled among ferns, wiregrass and knee-high oaks in a forest dotted with the white blooms of hibiscus, yellow-fringed orchids and black-eyed susans. <br> <br> Greenwood is among about 70 plantations stretching for about 100 miles from Albany to Tallahassee, Fla. <br> <br> Thomasville, a town of 20,000 located about 35 miles north of Tallahassee, Fla., was a winter resort in the late 1800s for Northerners fleeing harsh winters. The town&#39;s resort era ended when rail lines were extended farther south to Florida, but the area&#39;s plantations remain popular as quail-hunting preserves. <br> <br> Neel and Palmer said there are at least 500 plant species at Greenwood and countless animals, many of them endangered. <br> <br> ``We&#39;re looking forward to the value of Greenwood being preserved and carried forward,&#39;&#39; Neel said. ``Vegetation is disappearing all over the world. It starts with trees. Five thousand acres is not going to save the planet, but someone has to start somewhere.&#39;&#39;

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