Charlie Green
The Friends and the WNC Nature Center are saddened by the loss of Charlie Green. A good friend to humans and reptiles, Charlie made a difference in the lives of thousands of people - and many thousands of animals. Thank you to Charlie for a life spent devoted to what he loved and believed in.
We’ve all seen it—the turtle in the road, determined to reach the other side, crossing slowly and deliberately despite traffic. If you’ve come across this scene, you’ve probably stopped, picked up the turtle, and set him safely on the far side of the road, sending him on his way. For many of us, this is our primary interaction with rescuing reptiles.
For Charlie Green, rescuing, raising, and educating the community about reptiles—especially turtles—was more than a passing opportunity on the freeway. Charlie’s dedication to turtles and other reptiles was a “love affair”—not something he found the time for, but something that was his time.
Charlie Green will always be “The Turtle Man.” Known by thousands of members of the community of Asheville, Charlie was involved in summer camps and special events for children for many years, at the WNC Nature Center and elsewhere. His “infectious passion” has sparked a love and appreciation for all of nature—and especially turtles—in hundreds of young people. “Because of Charlie, my kids and I never see anything the same way again. There was never just a rock. There was always something under the rock,” says Maggie Turnbull, a friend of Charlie’s.
Educating the community about turtles was always been a priority for Charlie, but Charlie’s influence hardly ends there. If his impact on the humans of the area is impressive, his influence on the reptile community is immeasurable. Charlie rehabilitated wild injured turtles, rescued exotic pet reptiles, and was part of breeding programs for critically endangered turtle and tortoise species. It’s was never nine-to-five work, either. Charlie worked from home, if you could call it “his” home—it really belonged to the animals. With hundreds of turtles alone, along with numerous snakes, lizards, and a smattering of amphibians, Charlie’s love of these often misunderstood and under-appreciated creatures seemed limitless. “He would never turn anything away,” says Savannah Brown of the WNC Nature Center. “He would take a thousand turtles if I had a thousand turtles that needed help.”
Spotted Turtle in the Appalachian Station at the WNC Nature Center
One of Charlie’s long lasting influences on the community is the Southern Appalachian Herpotological Society, of which he is a founding member. The Society is dedicated to public education, responsible husbandry, and habitat protection for all reptiles and amphibians. They are focused in Western North Carolina and they meet the last Thursday of every month. Meetings are open to the public as the Society, in the same spirit that Charlie and other founders intended, seeks to teach others to appreciate and value the reptiles and amphibians of the world. Of his efforts to reach a wider audience in the interest of turtles, Charlie said, “Through the education of young people and the community, my hope is to engage enough people in the movement to preserve these fascinating and ancient creatures.”
The WNC Nature is deeply indebted to Charlie and his “infectious passion” for turtles. If you’ve visited us, you’ve probably seen the indoor box turtles and the baby spotted turtles. These turtles came from Charlie and are beneficiaries of his dedication to preserving turtles. The spotted turtles are part of a breeding project for this threatened species. The box turtles are unreleasable rehabilitation patients cared for and repaired by Charlie. Look and see if you can spot fiberglass patches on their shells—Charlie’s handiwork, a lifesaving bit of engineering for turtles with damaged carapaces.
Charlie saved many of the turtles in the outdoor turtle pond as well, and because of his continual involvement with the Nature Center’s reptile rehabilitation and conservation, the Center wanted to recognize him. On November 15, 2011, the turtle pond was dedicated to Charlie Green in a ceremonial unveiling of a bronze box turtle sculpture placed within the enclosure. In attendance were Charlie’s family and friends, a small selection of the thousands of lives the Turtle Man has touched.
“When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.