Orchid conservation efforts are going on all around the country. It is always encouraging to learn about individual groups taking on a special challenge, such as saving a species of North American orchids. The Kentucky Lady’s slipper Orchid is a beautiful and rare orchid, well worth saving. It has become the focus of a cooperative effort between the Kisatchie National Forest of Louisiana and the Central Louisiana Orchid Society.  How did all this start? To quote from the article …

In the grim context of declining populations of C. kentuckiense, an exciting development took place on the Kisatchie National Forest in 2004. Kevin Allen, an amateur botanist with an interest in native orchids, collected a C. kentuckiense seedpod from a plant on the Catahoula Ranger District.

Read the whole story here.