On a recent trip to Costa Rica - home to 1500 known species of orchid, but
probably many thousands more - I came across an organization called
Orquideas del Bosque which produces native species in vitro from seed
precisely to diminish the pressure on the species due to illegal extraction.
I was able to buy four seedlings in vitro and legally take them back to
Canada because they were packaged with the appropriate phytosanitary
certificates. You may want to check out www.costaricanorchids.com for
details.
As for collecting in the wild, I too am opposed to it. However, when walking
in the various rain forests in the Central Cordilleras, I noticed that many
orchids had been brought down from their perches high in the canopy during
storms - the bromeliads are full of water and generally overweight the
boughs on old growth trees and bring them down, not to mention the
activities of the monkeys. Since a high-growing epiphyte cannot last for
very long in the dim light conditions of the forest floor, I think it is
legitimate to rescue those that are going to die anyway. I came across many
beautiful species of oncidium, pleurothallis, epidendrum, miltonia, etc.,
all of which were doomed. Although tempted, I did not try to bring any back
with me because I don't want to get into the CITEs black book. Nonetheless,
there can be no harm, in my view, of collecting fallen epiphytes from the
forest floor.

"Andrew" wrote in message
ps.com...
With the recent flood of posts about orchid smuggling and CITES it got
me wondering. Is anyone on RGO involved with orchid conservation or
involved with groups/societies that actively work to conserve orchid
populations? If so what and how? I know most of you grow exotics and
orchid conservation in other countries is often harder to make a
difference with. Are there any "native" growers in the group and if
so do your attitudes to differ from your exotic growing buddies?

Where I'm coming from: I belong to a local Australasian Native Orchid
Society group. The group has a very strong conservation ethic and
thanks to the hard work of a few members the society has become a major
player in conservation efforts in my state. While I applaud their
efforts, my interest in orchids like most of yours is in cultivation
rather than enjoying them in situ. However, I still feel some
obligation with regard to responsible and ethical collecting which is
why I chose to become involved in an orchid distribution program that
my society runs. The aim of this program is to make legally obtained
plants readily available at a dirt cheap price so that it's not worth
the effort to illegally collect them from the wild thus removing the
pressure from our already stressed orchid habitats. It also produces
an ex situ pool should reintroduction be required. It's essentially the
cultivation arm of the society's conservation effort.

I was just wondering if there's anyone else who supports or takes
part in actually doing something for orchids in the wild (or even
cares). I know AOS supports conservations efforts but do you really
care about that or are you just a member for the books and the mag.
From reading this newsgroup and other forums it comes across that to
many people the height of their interest in orchid conservation
revolves around "rescuing" a half dead Phal hybrid from Lowes. :-)
......... :-(

Sorry, if this post comes across as being cynical of the motives behind
exotic growers. I'm also not pointing the finger at any specific people
who have commented on the CITES debate. I'm just curious if anyone
cares or is "Rape and Pillage" still acceptable in this day and age.