 |
|
|
|
 Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld (1794-1872) |
Botanical gardens are places of great natural beauty meant to give people pleasure and calm their spirits. Still, these living visions of paradise are earthly creations that exist with us and the rest of the world's creatures and creations. Sometimes the mix of people, the outside world, and paradise can be explosive.
Plant Hunters Become the Hunted August 2002: six federal agents staged a predawn raid at the home of Mike Kovach in rural Virginia. They were looking for an orchid.  A year earlier on a trip to Peru, Kovach spotted an orchid at a roadside stand that was unlike any he had seen before. It was a ladyslipper orchid. But its bloom was twice the size of other ladyslippers, and instead of sporting a drab green or moss-colored flower, this orchid had colors that ranged from bright magenta to royal purple. As an orchid grower, Kovach knew he had found something new and unusual. ''We stumbled onto the Holy Grail of the orchid world,'' he later said to a Miami Herald reporter.As the story was reported in the Miami Herald, Kovach asked the vendor to show him where he found the orchid. The vendor led him to a small colony of the unusual orchids growing on a cliff near the road. Noting the spot, Kovach returned to Peru the following spring. He found far fewer plants than he did a year ago. Word of the new orchid had spread in Peru and rumors on chat lines reported that the new orchids were fetching $10,000 a plant in South Florida. Kovach acted. He brought an orchid plant back with him to the United States and took it to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota for identification in June 2002. Kovich chose Selby because the Gardens have more orchid taxonomists than any other botanical garden in the world. After examining the specimen, the curator of the Gardens' Orchid Identification Center declared, "This has got to be one of the most important plant discoveries for Selby Gardens and for the entire orchid world in the past 100 years." Selby named the new species of orchid Phragmipedium kovachii in honor of Mike Kovach. A week later, the Gardens published a claim to the name in their professional journal. Now the story gets interesting. Coincidentally, Dr. Eric Christenson, an orchid taxonomist who used to work for Selby Botanical Gardens, had detailed photographs of the new orchid that he received from colleagues in Peru. He too recognized the orchid as a new species and was finishing his own article on the plant for publication in the July 2002 journal of the American Orchid Society. Dr. Christenson would name the new species Phragmipedium peruvianum. Too late though. Scientific protocol dictates that the person or institution that first publishes a written description gets the naming rights. Selby beat Christenson by five days. Christenson was incensed. He was quoted in the Miami Herald article as saying "...a rogue institution involved in an illegal act." Peruvian officials complained too. They charged that the Selby Botanical Gardens had no right to give an official name to an illegally obtained plant. They also demanded that the U.S. government seize any of the orchids found in the United States and that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service open an investigation immediately. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enforces The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement that among many other things prohibits people from importing or exporting ladyslipper orchids from their natural habitat. In the investigation that ensued, Kovach's house and greenhouse were searched. Records of the Selby Botanical Gardens were checked; the Garden was searched; and a piece of the orchid taken from the Garden by an employee was confiscated. Grand Jury subpoenas were issued to a dozen Selby employees and board members. Since the scandal broke, the executive director of the Garden and eight board members have resigned. Garden supporters have withheld nearly $500,000 in pledges. St. Petersburg Times reporter Craig Pittman who has been following the story from its beginning, wrote: "As the yearlong investigation draws to a close, Selby is likely to be charged with violating laws designed to protect endangered plants from poachers. Selby's staff believes prosecutors will make an example of them to placate Peru, said Selby's crisis management consultant, Jeffrey Tucker. A criminal conviction could bring large fines and the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money. Individuals could even face jail time. Attorneys' fees already are squeezing the garden's $3.2-million budget." Dr. Eric Christenson, the rival orchid namer, said that he was not surprised. "These people are idiots," he said. "Everyone involved knew it was illegal." In mid-December 2003, the Department of Justice filed criminal charges against the Selby Botanical Gardens and Wesley Higgins, head of their orchid identification center, for violating the Endangered Species Act. The maximum penalty for this offense is one-year imprisonment and/or a $100,000 fine. "The Justice Department takes seriously any breach of conservation laws committed by businesses and individuals privileged to deal with endangered and threatened species," said Tom Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. Rather than go to trial, the Gardens and Higgins pleaded guilty and worked out a settlement with the government. As reported in the Sarasota Herald Tribune, the Gardens was fined $5000 and will be placed on probation for three years. Higgins was fined $2000 and sentenced to two years on probation. The Gardens also agreed to apologize to members of the American Orchid Society and to ask the international orchid-naming society in Vienna, Austria to change the name of the orchid. Barbara Hansen, chair of Selby's board of trustees, said "We don't think it should be named for someone who illegally obtained it." A month before charges were brought against Selby Gardens, Kovach was indicted for smuggling and possessing an endangered species. If convicted of smuggling, Kovach could face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. The possession charge could result in an additional year in jail and a fine of $100,000. In June 2004 Kovach pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors: illegal possession of an endangered species and trade in an illegal commodity. He was tried in a U.S. District Court in November 2004. where he was found guilty and sentenced to two years of probation and fined $1,000. At the sentencing, the judge told Kovach that he narrowly escaped prison: "I'm resolving some doubts in your favor owing to your status as a first offender, but some of your explanations here are very nearly, "The dog ate my homework."' As to the orchid's fate: the editor of Orchid Digest went to Peru to find out. He reported that the original colony was stripped clean, however he did see 1,000 more plants growing on a remote cliff in the Andes. Here is a closeup picture of the orchid that started it all.  >>>>>For more stories
|