March 2015 — Peter Tobias

Peter TobiasThe Palomar Orchid Society is pleased to welcome Peter Tobias as our guest speaker this month. He will be giving a talk on "Traveling in Brazil with the Orchid Conservation Alliance". Peter is a member of the SDCOS and also President of the Orchid Conservation Alliance (OCA), which he co-founded in 2006 with some of his friends. In the past, Peter has served as the chairman of the San Diego County Orchid Society’s Conservation Committee.  Peter will first present an overview of OCA, followed by a discussion of  the trip taken in Spring 2014 with OCA to the Atlantic Rainforest and the Chapada Diamantina National Park in Brazil to see orchids growing in the wild.

Peter began growing orchids as a hobby in Chicago during the early 1970s with a white phalaenopsis orchid. After moving to Encinitas in 1980, his hobby really “bloomed.” His collection of primarily species orchids is mostly grown outdoors.

Peter is visiting investigator and associate professor of immunology and microbial science at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. He is a member of the San Diego County Orchid Society and a founding member of the the society’s Conservation Committee in 1991.

The success of the local conservation group led to the idea that orchid lovers  anywhere might support an organization devoted to orchid habitat protection, and OCA was founded. OCA is a non-profit corporation with the principal goal of fostering the development of wild orchid reserves and to promote the conservation of orchids and orchid habitat around the world. So far, 319 individuals and 27 orchid societies have joined this alliance which supports a number of projects in Ecuador and other South American areas.