NAOCC is based at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, MD.
- NAOCC is both a program of the Smithsonian, and a network of over 60 botanic gardens, public and private landowners, researchers, educators, and citizens.
- Founding partners include the National Zoological Park, the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Gardens, and the U.S. Botanic Garden.
- NAOCC collaborators share the common goals of preserving habitats, creating and maintaining national collections of seeds and orchid mycorrhizal fungi, and conducting research on orchid ecology, conservation and restoration.
- Education and outreach are key aspects of NAOCC’s aim to provide the public with opportunities to join in the effort to conserve native orchids.
- NAOCC’s model inspired European groups establishing the European Orchid Conservation Center and the Interactive Conservation platform for Orchids Native to Greece/Turkey (with funding from the European Union).
- In a joint initiative with the U.S. Forest Service’s Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, NAOCC also established an orchid conservation program for the western Pacific island nation of Palau.
