The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana has completed its largest purchase ever, an $8.7 million deal for 4,750 acres owned by Plum Creek Timber Company.

The Louisiana conservancy group has announced it will transfer the land to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service over the next five years to add to the existing 37,000-acre Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge for migratory bird habitat conservation.

The parcel is home to at least one endangered bird species, the red-cockaded woodpecker. It will serve as a corridor connecting two separate areas of the Upper Ouachita wildlife refuge.

The Nature Conservancy is an international nonprofit group that relies on private donations. Plum Creek is a Seattle-based company that owns more than 3.3 million acres of timber land nationwide.