"With their garish blooms, there's something special about orchids, and in the U.S., no place has more native species than Fakahatchee Strand Preserve. The state park in Southwest Florida was the setting for the 1998 book The Orchid Thief. Scientists there are working to bring back varieties lost through the years to poachers and habitat destruction.
If you visit Fakahatchee, you likely will run into park biologist Mike Owen. He's spent most of his career there, though he says that's not as significant as it sounds.
'The ecosystem is five thousand years old,' he says, 'so 22 years is maybe a wink in that time span.'"
Greg Allen reports for NPR's All Things Considered November 10, 2015.
Source: NPR, 11/11/2015
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