Harold Koopowitz is Professor of Ecology at the University of California at Irvine. Previously, he was the Director of the University of California at Irvine Arboretum for twenty years when it specialized in African bulbous and cormous plants. Koopowitz has long-standing interests in the hybridization of a variety of specialist plants, including slipper orchids, daffodils, and clivias. He has traveled extensively to study orchids in the wild, and is diligent in his efforts to encourage discussion about endangered plants. The results of his devotion include numerous scientific papers on orchids, deforestation, and the effects of long conversion on plant extinctions. He is a long-standing member of the conservation committee of the American Orchid Society and a member of the Orchid Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission. Koopowitz is the author of several books on horticulture and conservation, including Orchids and Their Conservation, and is currently editor-in-chief for the Orchid Digest. He resides in Santa Ana, California.