Spring Greetings from NAOCC!
News and updates as we begin another season of native orchid conservation
Congratulations to Jay O'Neill!
The Conservation Committee of the American Orchid Society (AOS) has awarded the 2019 Philip Keenan Award for Orchid Conservation to NAOCC's Jay O'Neill for his long-standing, significant, and tireless work on behalf of native orchid conservation during his many years with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) . For decades, Jay quietly and diligently assembled and maintained the incredibly valuable orchid seed and mycorrhizal fungi collections at SERC, and painstakingly guided the development of the NAOCC and Go Orchids websites (the latter modeled after Go Botany). While Jay recently retired from SERC, he continues as a volunteer extraordinaire, expanding and promoting orchid-gami, as well as managing the NAOCC and Go Orchids websites. Congratulations to Jay on this well-deserved award!

Read more about the Keenan Award in the April Issue of the AOS ' Orchids magazine.
NAOCC is now a Participating Institution: Research Partner of the Center for Plant Conservation
In January, 2019, NAOCC joined many of our collaborators as a Participating Institution in the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) network. CPC’s mission is to ensure stewardship of imperiled native plants. We look forward to participating as a Research Partner with CPC and our mutual allies, as we work together to advance and implement science-based best practices in support of native orchid conservation.
.
 NAOCC Updates and Around the Regions

Ida Hartvig, Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen , will be a Post-doctoral Fellow with Melissa McCormick and Dennis Whigham beginning in July, 2019.  Ida will study fungal interactions as drivers in the evolution and speciation of orchids and will focus on hybridization in Platanthera as a model system.  

NAOCC’s Palau research will be well represented with four presentations at the International Orchid Conservation Congress meeting at Kew Gardens in June. Melissa McCormick will be the lead author on a presentation on the diversity of orchid mycorrhizal fungi from endemic and widespread orchids in Palau and she will also make a presentation on SERC's research efforts related to Isotria medeoloides , a federally listed species. Luigi Erba, a student of Dr. Larry Zettler, will make a presentation on the isolation and identification of fungal endophytes from Palau, and Benjamin Crain will be the lead author on an overview of the Palau Orchid Conservation Initiative .

Melissa McCormick recently presented at the Tartu University in Estonia about how fungi affect orchid population dynamics.
 
NAOCC received a grant from the Smithsonian’s Working Land and Seascapes Amplification Fund to develop a video on the Palau project.

Canada : Ontario-based filmmaker, Dr. Franziska von Rosen of Pinegrove Productions , has produced a short educational video intended to inform land owners about actions they can take to help protect native orchid species at risk and preserve biodiversity on their properties. NAOCC consulted for this production. You may see the video here.

Florida / Georgia : The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden recently held a three-day International Orchid Festival to debut the opening of their new National Orchid Garden , which will contain the largest public outdoor display of tropical orchids in the United States. Visitors to the Orchid Festival learned about the great strides Fairchild has made to conserve native Florida orchids with The Million Orchid Project, and were able to look inside the Mobile STEMLab bus used by Miami-Dade County school students as part of The MillionOrchid Project’s micro-propagation efforts.

Mid-Atlantic : Dennis Whigham recently participated in a training workshop for Virginia Working Landscapes (VWL) program . The VWL engages citizen scientists to conduct biodiversity surveys of more than 200 forest patches across several counties in northern Virginia.  NAOCC added an orchid element to the program, and assisted VWL with development of a field guide. At the workshop, Dennis presented about the NAOCC model for conservation of native orchids, and described how the field guide and NAOCC’s Go Orchids website can be used to identify orchids. The VWL project will result in the collection of seeds, leaves, and orchid mycorrhiza in support of NAOCC conservation efforts.

Recently, NAOCC was represented at the Friends of Brookside Gardens Orchid Show (co-sponsored by the Rock Creek Orchid Club ) and the annual Family Orchid Day event at Orchids: Amazing Adaptations co-prouduced by the Smithsonian and U.S. Botanic Garden.

Also in recent months, Dennis and Melissa have presented about NAOCC's research and conservation efforts at Bryn Mawr College, Mt. Cuba Center , the Mid-Atlantic Horticulture Short Course in Virginia Beach, the Maryland Orchid Society in Baltimore, and to the the Rock Creek Orchid Club in Maryland.

In December, Eileen Boyle, Adrienne Bozic, and Amy Highland of Mt. Cuba Center met with Dennis Whigham, Melissa McCormick, and Julianne McGuinness at SERC to discuss NAOCC - Mt. Cuba Center partnership opportunities and formalize a collaborative agreement.

Coming up in April, Dennis Whigham and Julianne McGuinness will visit new NAOCC Collaborator, Cornell Botanic Gardens to present and discuss orchid conservation in the New York Finger Lakes region. Julianne will also present about NAOCC at the Pinelands Orchid Society in New Jersey in early April.

Midwest : In February, Dennis Whigham presented about NAOCC to the semi-annual meeting of the Mid-America Orchid Congress during the Greater Lansing Orchid Society's Orchid Show at the Michigan State University. Thanks to Doug Martin, long-term NAOCC collaborator and supporter, for organizing the NAOCC participation in this event.

Starting this season, NAOCC will collaborate with two Michigan-based land trusts – The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC) and the Leelanau Conservancy (LC) , as well as a science teacher and students at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, to conduct a strategic, multi-year conservation and restoration effort to preserve the native orchid populations on several parcels of protected land in northwestern lower Michigan. We plan to use this collaboration as a model for developing other biodiversity preservation partnerships, and to explore the many ways that citizen science, with a focus on inclusion, can support and enhance conservation efforts and species preservation.

In May, Julianne McGuinness will represent NAOCC at the Center for Plant Conservation's National meeting at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

New England : NAOCC bids a fond farewell and congratulations to Bill Brumback on his recent retirement as the Conservation Director of the New England Wild Flower Society ! For over two decades, Bill has been a leader in New England plant conservation, and worked on recovery projects for four federally endangered species. He initiated the New England Plant Conservation Program (NEPCoP), a regional voluntary collaborative of 150 collaborators, mostly professional in all six New England states, and the Plant Conservation Volunteer Corps (over 400 trained amateurs monitoring rare plants and invasive species throughout New England). Bill published, with other authors, "Flora Conservanda: New England, The NEPCoP List of plants in need of conservation", which provides the status of over 500 plants that are of conservation concern in New England. Since NAOCC's inception, Bill has been a regular collaborator on native orchid research and conservation. We extend our best wishes to Bill for an enjoyable retirement!

Congratulations are also in order for Laney Widener, who has also left the New England Wild Flower Society recently to take a position as the first Executive Director of the Concord Land Conservation Trust in Concord, MA. Laney has been instrumental in coordinating and overseeing NAOCC's and The Society's native orchid specimen collections throughout New England. Best wishes to Laney!

North Carolina: In early March, Dennis presented about NAOCC and Isotria medeoloides research and conservation efforts at a meeting of the North Carolina Rare Plant Forum. Later this year, we plan to convene an initial meeting of potential NAOCC collaborators in the North and South Carolina region.

(If you have native orchid conservation-related news you would like us to share in a future newsletter, please let us know - email Julianne McGuinness )
The Native Orchid Conference has announced the sponsorship of an annual grant of up to $1,000.00 in the memory of Mr. Frederick W. Case, Jr. The purpose of the grant is to support basic or applied research on orchids native to North America north of Mexico.

The grant will be awarded to a university graduate or undergraduate student based on the conditions listed below. The award is made in the spring of each year for the following academic year. This year’s deadline to apply is March 31, 2019.

Projects eligible for funding may include but are not limited to the following:
  • Orchid systematics
  • Surveys of natural areas
  • Research into protection of endangered species
  • Horticultural research involving native orchids
  • Restoration of native species or habitats
  • Molecular research

To learn more about the Fred Case Grant Program, visit the NOC web page.  Any questions may be directed to Doug Martin, Chairman, Case Grant Committee at: “dofrma44 (at) gmail.com” 
NAOCC and the New England Wild Flower Society featured in the Spring issue of Northern Woodlands Magazine
“A Quest to Save Wild Orchids” By Susan Shea

"After climbing a steep, winding road through a gap in Vermont’s Green Mountains, my car descended into Addison County, rolling past fields bright with purple aster and goldenrod. A black Subaru wagon was parked at a pre-arranged meeting spot at a junction of dirt roads. Out stepped Warren King, a spry, gray-bearded, retired ornithologist, environmental educator, and long-time conservationist who now spends significant time volunteering for the New England Wild Flower Society. This particular day, King was working on the Common Orchid Project, a collaboration between the New England Wild Flower Society and the North American Orchid Conservation Center, a program of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. He led me through a maze of dirt roads and we parked, pulled on tall rubber boots, and shouldered our day packs. Crossing the road, we bushwhacked through dense woods, part of the Green Mountain National Forest…”
 
Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid ( Platanthera leucophaea ). Photo by Jim Fowler.
2019 Native Orchid Conference - Bruce Peninsula
Registration is now open for the Native Orchid Conference ’s Annual Symposium, which will be held June 14 – 17 in Tobermory, Ontario, Canada – at the northern tip of the beautiful Bruce Peninsula.

This four-day event includes two days of lectures and two days of field-trips to nearby sites which have been scouted by local NOC volunteers and students. The Symposium is a chance to catch-up with old friends and make new ones. Many lasting friendships and professional relationships have begun at this annual orchid conference. As usual, the Conference will be limited to 100 attendees, and registration is conducted by mail or email.

The legendary Bruce Peninsula, in Ontario, Canada boasts over 40 taxa of orchids, and is this year’s venue for the Native Orchid Conference, June 14-17. We put together this special gallery to give you a preview of the orchids, carnivorous plants, and rare ferns we hope to find as we scout the “Bruce” over two days of field trips. 


A special thanks to NAOCC's gallery contributors! If you are an orchid photographer and have an idea for a new gallery, let us know !
Photo by Hal Horwitz
Photo by Hal Horwitz
Photo by Hal Horwitz
Above: Dragon's Mouth ( Arethusa bulbosa ). Although rare, this orchid grows in fens and bogs on the central Bruce Peninsula, often in the company of carnivorous plants.

Left, Top: Striped Coralroot Corallorhiza striata. Intense, red striping makes this the most attractive coralroot growing on the peninsula.

Left, Bottom: Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium arietinum). Butting heads! One of the smaller lady’s slippers but guaranteed to put on a show.
Photos © Hal Horwitz
NAOCC has a new orchid-gami model now available as a punch-out: the Moccasin Flower ( Cypripedium acaule ), sponsored by Stantec, Riveredge Nature Center, and Sheboygan County, WI. Coming soon: the Showy Orchid ( Galearis spectabllis ), sponsored by Mt. Cuba Center.
 
All 25 orchid designs are available as pdf files that can be downloaded from the orchid-gami web page. Currently 17 of the models are available as punch-outs - our goal is to create punch-outs for the remaining 8, and we are seeking additional sponsors to join these generous supporters of the orchid-gami project:


NAOCC is offering two different packets of models (each packet contains 5 punch-out models with a bonus model) with a minimum order of 5 packets at $10 per packet. For a bulk purchase of punch-outs intended for educational purposes, such as a classroom activity or orchid society, NAOCC can offer a significant discount. Contact NAOCC to learn more about orchid-gami , sponsorship opportunities, and how to obtain the punch-outs.
Orchid Events

Explore a selection of the Duke Farms' Orchid Range’s 4000+ specimens, while discovering fascinating facts about these unique plants including: partnerships vital for survival, including habitat, pollinators, and fungi; growing requirements, and more! Be ready to venture into various areas of the Orchid Range during this coordinated instructional encounter led by the Duke Farms Educational Team and Orchid Specialists Laun Elkin and Bill Granfield.
 

Explore the world of America’s favorite plant with the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s annual Orchid Daze exhibition – celebrating thousands of beautiful blossoms from February through April. Step inside the tropical warmth of the largest orchid center in the United States for a special exhibition of thousands of gorgeous orchids. This year’s Orchid Daze exhibition will feature the award-winning photography of Parish Kohanim displayed among the blossoms in the Fuqua Orchid Center.
 

Escape the winter cold and step into a floral oasis with Orchids: Amazing Adaptations , a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Botanic Garden . Hundreds of stunning orchids fill the enclosed Kogod Courtyard between the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum . See how orchids have adapted to surviving in many different environments on all the continents except Antarctica. Details here . This installation is part of Habitat, a Smithsonian Gardens exhibition exploring the importance of habitats and how we can protect them, and the first in a series of changing exhibitions connecting all of Smithsonian Gardens ’ spaces with a single theme. Continuing through 2020, Habitat will feature a variety of indoor and outdoor displays, exhibits and educational programs.
 
 
To learn what other orchid events may be happening in your area, check out this Calendar of Events compiled by the American Orchid Society .
We appreciate your interest in NAOCC - we want to stay in touch and hope that you do too!
 
We treat your contact information with respect. We only store the information to communicate with you, and do not share it with outside entities for any other purposes. You may withdraw your permission to receive our emails at any time by using the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of every email you receive from us.
While some of NAOCC's orchid conservation work is funded in part by grants from various agencies, we rely greatly on private, individual donations - which can make a big impact on the success of our projects. If you wish to donate to NAOCC's orchid conservation efforts, you may do so by contacting us directly , or clicking on the button, below.
Copyright © 2019 NAOCC / Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you are a NAOCC Collaborator, Donor, or Friend. Please let us know if you have ideas for future newsletters, or if you prefer to unsubscribe from these emails.