Hello, I joined today to ask a question. How do you feel about (re?) introducing orchids that are more than likely native to my area but have never reported. I found a source for orchids that are native within 25 miles but I cannot find any reports in my county. Some of the reported populations are in the single digits. I want to plant them in a park by my house in and area that seems perfect now but has gone threw much development for the last 150 years. It was marsh. Then a dump. Then covered up and made into a park. Now 60 years later a fairly healthy eco system. So what the concensus? Is it the right thing to do?
Look up "guerilla gardening ethics" for a primer on something similar. Consider that the action may do overall harm to conservation if the "discovery" of a new population of a thought-to-be-rare species downgrades its conservation status and thereby lowers the priority of land acquisition/preservation (especially since the transplanted population will be a genetic subset of the parent population, so likely of less conservation value). Or, pity the poor grad student who is trying to figure out how the species (re-)established in an area that they weren't known to grow from before, and whether that is due to human introduction or some other vector. On the other hand, if the other populations are likely to be lost... it's all very complicated and dependent on context, frankly.
