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Saving Orchids in the Wild
As orchid lovers, members of the OCA work to preserve orchids and orchid habitats. We create protected reserves where wild orchids can continue to live and blossom in the rain and sunshine. A side benefit is that everything else that lives in the reserve is protected too.
ORCHID RESERVES
The OCA protects orchid in their native habitats because this approach preserves many species of orchids in the same space, even ones not yet identified, as well as the ecosystems in which they exist. In their natural setting, orchids are subject to the environmental pressures that led to their evolution in the first place, and thus they are most at home there. They are adapted to the local climate. Their pollinators are there. And in their native habitat that orchids maintain themselves. In these pages you can learn more about the reserves we have created and you can help with this work.
ORCHID ECOTOURS – Orchids in the Wild
An orchid blooming on a tree trunk in the sun and rain of its native habitat is one of the miracles of the natural world every orchid lover should see at least once. The OCA sponsors trips to see orchids in the wild in our reserves as well as elsewhere. So far we have had trips to Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, China, France, and Thailand. In 2017 we will go to Greece, Brazil, and Ecuador. Primarily, these trips are a lot of fun. You will come home with many wonderful orchid photos. They are also very educational; once you see how the orchids you are trying to grow at home actually grow in nature you will know a lot more about the particular conditions that will make them thrive for you. Orchids in the Wild tours take you to places you would never see otherwise.
OCA Board of Directors
Peter Tobias
Ph.D. Director and OCA President. Former chair, San Diego County Orchid Society Conservation Committee; Member, Orchid Specialist Group, IUCN; Board Member, Orchid Digest Foundation.Retired Associate Professor of Biochemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA Orchid interests: Conservation, landscaping with orchids, orchid focused ecotourism.
Ron Kaufmann
Ph. D. Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, and Associate Professor of Environmental and Ocean Sciences, University of San Diego. Ron also serves on the boards of the EcoMinga Foundation (a conservation organization based in Ecuador) and Orchid Digest.
Steve Beckendorf
Ph.D. Director. Member, Orchid Specialist Group, IUCN. Member, American Orchid Society Conservation Committee. Director, The Orchid Digest Corporation. Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley. Orchid interests: Orchids of the Andes, especially Odontoglossums, Cyrtochilums, Masdevallias; preservation of orchid-rich cloud forests.
Rosario Braga
M.A. Director. Former President (2006-2010), OrquidaRio Orquidófilos Associados, Rio’s orchid society, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since 2011 she has been the editor of “Orquidário”, OrquidaRio’s magazine, where she writes articles about conservation. Rosário is a botanist who has been working with orchids since 1994. She was the director of Quinta do Lago orchid nursery, where she reproduced, cultivated and traded Brazilian orchid species. Her main interest is conservation of the Atlantic Forest and orchid habitats in general. Currently she is one of the directors of the NGO Brazilian Institute of Biodiversity and her main project is the conservation of sand dune vegetation along the coast of Rio de Janeiro State.
Mary Gerritsen
Ph.D. Director. President San Francisco Orchid Society (2011-2014), former president Peninsula Orchid Society (2008). Consulting professor of vascular surgery, Stanford, independent consultant to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Former Vice President, Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Exelixis. Author of two books on orchids (Masdevallias, Gems of the Orchid World; Miniature Orchids), and one on a genus of North American wildflowers (Calochortus, Mariposa Lilies and their Relatives) with co-author and photographer, Ron Parsons. Orchid interests: cool and intermediate growing miniature orchids, preservation of orchid habitats.