"Jack" ) queried thusly:

Is there any group like that in the US
On that activily protects, collects endangered orchids and brings them
into production?

Depends upon what "endangered" means. All orchids are at least
CITES II, but that doesn't mean we're in a tizzy over Cattleya aurantiaca
being extirpated, now does it?

The Orchid Seedbank brings several new species each year into
cultivation. I don't make a big deal about it, and they get sold off at
reasonable prices. All plants are propagated from seed, and we have some
plants available for sale that are either extinct in the wild, or well on
their way. Some plants are not commercially available as wild-collected
specimens due to geopolitical instability. Some are unavailable because
they are difficult to grow, or not particularly attractive. Some people
just don't care about because they want one to flower SOON 'coz they saw
one at the society meeting they just HAVE to have one because the world
might end in the 5-10 years it takes to get one from seed.

Really it's just not that big of a deal. Some collector knows some
guy who wants weird stuff, so he sells it to him- it gets imported,
flowers out, gets pollinated, and the seeds are sent over to some lab.
Then the propagules are panned out at some extortionate price because
either:

1) It's a new species
2) It's not a new species, but the seller THINKS it is because
there's an extra wart on the lip or something
3) Wild-collected plants are too big or cost an arm and a leg
(Phal. gigantea, Bulbo. phalaenopsis)

or

4) It's illegal as sin so EVERYONE wants one, although nobody will
admit to having one

What a whole lot of fun that must be- a plant only you can look
at. And then we get panned in the press for being neurotic, rich, stuffy
orchid growers. Imagine the indignity!

So, yes- there's a short list of domestic growers that do that
sort of thing. Troy Meyers at Meyers Conservatory, the Orchid Seedbank (me
and hundreds of really nice donors), a handful of growers and the labs
they work with, and then a short list of particularly knowledgeable and
skilled professionals who probably don't want to be named.

But they know who they are.

The address in the header doesn't work. Send no email there.

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ