[OGD] Plea for support of Savannah River Ecology Lab
Folks, for those of you that don't know Lucy, here's a little background. About two years ago, Lucy called me up as I was the only person in the world with access to a species- one that happened to be of particular interest to Lucy as it was smack dab in the middle of the molecular phylogeny she was working on. I said I'd be happy to provide her with the material she requested- pressed, dried, non-propagatable material of a federally protected orchid that nobody else was (or is) growing in cultivation. Of course, when I checked with the feds, it turns out permits were required to move them between states. What with Lucy and her lab being in Georgia and me and the plants being in Arizona, this presented a bit of a challenge. Lucy completed those permits- which included a mandatory publication and 30-day review in the National Register- after which point I sent her the samples. Counting those pages in the Register, not to mention the heartbreaking work just to write up the request, probably outweighed the samples about 10,000 or 100,000 to 1. All that for one data point. Such is bureaucracy. Her group- the Savannah River Ecology Lab (SREL)- is in a bit of a pinch. Y'all are just going to have to take my word for this: for the amount of work that happens per dollar paid out, we- us orchid growers- are getting a lot out of U-GA's field station. Some of you may recall when the Smithsonian tried to shut down their Conservation and Research Center back in 2001- 3200 acres of some of the most important conservation work going on in America right now. The Secretary of the Smithsonian repealed the closure proposal when the value of the facility was revealed. Right about now would be a good time to do the same thing for SREL. Please read the missive below and follow the link enclosed within. Cheers, -AJHicks Chandler, AZ Dear NOC members, Many of you know me from NOC talks on my Spiranthes genetics project to determine their family tree, which was funded initially by the American Orchid Society. We presented further results this year at the International Orchid Conservation Congress, and intend to publish at least 2 papers in scientific journals. This project could not have happened without the help of many NOC members who collected samples for it. The lab portion of the Spiranthes project has been carried out over the past 4-5 years at my workplace, Savannah River Ecology Lab (SREL), a field research station for the University of Georgia, established 56 years ago to ecologically monitor activities on the Savannah River Site (the nuclear production facility during the cold war). But now SREL will be forced to close at the end of May, _in less than 4 weeks_, because the US Dept. of Energy, our main sponsor, won't release our funding as promised. More details can be found at this website: http://www.savesrel.org/.http://www.savesrel.org/. We need all the letters we can get to petition the key decision- makers to reverse their decision about the SREL funding halt. A list of appropriate people to write/email/call is listed at the end of the summary webpage on the above website. If you are so inclined, please take the time to review the information and help us by contacting these people to protest their decision. Thank you, Lucy Dueck ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Darling Downs Orchid Association / Autumn Show (Australia)
Michael Zink... tending to his thousands of orchid plants. ... his orchid Quintessence [?] won Grand Champion and Champion Species at the Darling Downs Orchid Association's Autumn Show... Zink... 45-year-old graphic artist has more than 15 thousand plants and when he can, he travels Australia searching for new native specimens and enhancing his knowledge about the different species. ... Zink does not know how old his champion species is, but he bought it as a cutting in North Queensland... Orchids can last forever, he said. There are still orchids in existence taken into England in the 17th Century. [could you name them ?] They last until someone kills them [or feel like dying / smile... ] The grand champion grower said growing orchids was a hobby which took up an average of 15 hours a week. Uniform Resource Locator : http://www.thechronicle.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3732765thesection=localnewsthesubsection=thesecondsubsection= ** Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Florida budget (US)
Florida lawmakers spent the past two months criticizing cities and counties for excessive spending. Now it's their turn to be held accountable. The new state budget is stuffed with local projects sponsored by individual lawmakers. They spent millions on the kinds of projects that cities and counties are preparing to cut from their own budgets under the Legislature's threat of mandatory property tax reductions. Most of the projects are funded with one-time pots of nonrecurring money that under the state Constitution generally can't be spent for ongoing programs or salaries. So, while state employees won't get a pay raise, the budget includes... $50, 000 for an orchid festival [World Orchid Conference ?] in Miami. Some projects have a broad public benefit. The ones that don't are called turkeys. Gov. Charlie Crist will decide which are which, using his line-item veto... Time will tell, Crist said. I think it's very important to be judicious, to review each of those items and try to have a measure if it's in the public interest. Uniform Resource Locator : http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/07/State/Crist_s_turn_for__tur.shtml ** Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Vanilla tahitensis [French Polynesia]
Taha'a : the Orchid Island ... Originally introduced a hundred years ago, vanilla plantations have flourished and grown without modern machinery. Generations of family-owned farms harvest... v[V]anilla tahitensis Uniform Resource Locator : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/5/prweb523471.htm ** Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] growing tips by Susan Taylor
Uniform Resource Locator : http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art50758.asp ** Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
Re: [OGD] San Francisco orchids
Hi Folks: I will be in San Francisco for a few days beginning May 15th and staying just south of the University of San Francisco. Is there anything of note on the local orchid scene to visit should I find a bit of time? Thanks for any tips you may be able to give. Regards, Bill Allingham ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
