NETC serves the botanical research community, students, and the general public in New England and adjacent states. Its home base, Bennington, Vermont, is well situated to reach this public. Fifteen colleges are located within 60 miles of Bennington. As the “Gateway to Vermont,” Bennington is easily accessible to visitors from the south and west. Vermont is also a good place for environmental education. Its woodlands and fields and its policies for land conservation are consistent with our mission.

History
NETC was formed in 1991 by a group of citizens who were concerned about the deforestation of tropical rainforests and the resulting extinction of tropical plant species. In 1995 the Board identified Bennington, Vermont as a home base and future site of facilities designed to attract specialists and the general public. With the help of a Community Development Block Grant, they completed marketing and economic impact studies and adopted a business plan for careful, step-by-step growth. Cooperation with the Horticulture Program at the Southwest Vermont Career Development Center began in that year, and, for several years included a popular spring tropical plant show. In 1998 NETC established a laboratory greenhouse in Bennington. The office opened in 2001.

Today, NETC is expanding its presence in Vermont. In November 2003 we acquired a 96 acre parcel in Bennington Vermont with the help of a generous gift/purchase arrangement and a grant from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. Named the Norman & Selma Greenberg Conservation Reserve, the land has been developed with an entrance drive, parking area, trails and interpretive signs and activities. The meadow close to the highway will become the site of the Home Conservatory. The balance of the property will remain open with interpretive exhibits to connect the story of tropical forests displayed within the Conservatory to the native woods and fields of New England.

The first research expeditions to the rainforests of Indonesia set off in 1995, beginning a 12 year association with botanists from Indonesia’s National Herbarium in Bogor, West Java. NETC has worked with Bogor Herbarium for 12 years conducting botanical exploration. Our work together has focused on montane tropical forests. We have explored about 45 mountains, a possible record for any Western scientific institution. As a consequence of NETC’s proven capability to partner with Bogor Herbarium and produce significant work, our organizations have moved to a much greater level of institutional capacity building with implementation of the IBETP.