Fighting to save one-of-a-kind orchids in China


By Susan Feinberg

When Department of Earth and Environment Assistant Professor Hong Liu began exploring the Yachang Orchid Nature Preserve located in a remote corner of southwest China in 2008, she realized that she was in the midst of an orchid paradise.

“It was an amazing sight,” she recalled. “Everywhere I looked, there were orchids. And these weren’t just any orchids, but beautiful ones of great horticultural importance that have been collected to extinction in other places.”

A flower plant of Geodorumeulophiodes, one of the rarest plant species on earth.

A flower plant of Geodorum eulophiodes, one of the rarest plant species on earth.

Most of the 139 species of orchids in the preserve were flourishing, but Liu discovered that Geodorum eulophiodes, an extremely rare orchid, was not. This species, which was considered extinct for 80 years, was rediscovered near the orchid preserve in 2006. More than half of the area that hosted the only viable population of this vulnerable plant had been illegally cleared for eucalyptus plantings by a local villager.

Determined to save one of the rarest plant species in the world, Liu launched a campaign to preserve the one-of-a-kind orchids at the preserve at Guangxi, an area where she grew up with her family.

In October 2008, she persuaded local government officials to issue an order compensating the villager and protecting the area, which was located outside of the preserve on the border between state-owned forests and villages.

To promote research and science-based conservation of the orchids, Liu proposed the establishment of the Guangxi Orchid Research Institute and the Yachang International Orchid Research Station in 2008. The proposal is under review by the Chinese government.

She was also one of the lead organizers of the first Guangxi International Orchid Symposium, which was held in May 2009 and drew noted orchid conservation biologists from around the world.

Optimistic about her restoration progress, Liu returned to the Yachang preserve right after the symposium – and found a scene beyond her wildest imagination.

“Not only was the eucalyptus still growing vigorously on half of the site, but the other half of the area was planted with corn,” she recalled. “I knew that the wild orchids would not last long if farmers continued these activities.”

“The problem is that the local farmers think they own the land,” she added. “They say, ‘I buried generations of my family there. How can you say it’s not my land?’”

FIU's Hong Liu shows Chinese colleagues sampling design on wild orchid population study in Yachang Orchid Nature Reserve, Guangxi, China.

FIU's Hong Liu shows Chinese colleagues sampling design on wild orchid population study in Yachang Orchid Nature Reserve, Guangxi, China.

Liu called an on-site meeting with officials from the local government officials, farmers and conservation biologists and helped forge an agreement which called for the local government to compensate the farmers for their corn crop. In exchange, the farmers promised to stop farming and not to fertilize or herbicide the area after the current growing season.

This agreement would buy scientists time to learn more about the plants and harvest seeds for future reintroduction into another area, and give the disturbed habitat a chance to recover.

But three months later, tensions surged between officials at the Yachang preserve and the farmers due to disagreement on the compensation protocols.  “I thought I had the problem solved, but every time I returned to Yachang, I found new challenges,” Liu admitted.

Undaunted by these obstacles, Liu refuses to give up her fight to save the rare orchid.  While in America, she is communicating constantly by email and telephone with Chinese government officials, hoping to find a long-term solution.

“After 80 years of believing that this species is extinct, we can’t just let it go,” she said.