Wallowa Mountains

Our board member, Dr. David James, will introduce us to one his family’s most beloved vacation destinations for our annual WBA conference. Mark August 5-7, 2016 for a trip to northeastern Oregon for a weekend of quite stunningly beautiful field days on and around the peaks of the Wallowa Mountains, where we hope to be joined by members of the Eugene NABA chapter and other out of state butterfly groups.

Although many of the butterfly target species may already be familiar, a few, such as the American Copper (Lycaena phleas) and the Pelidne Sulphur (Colias pelidne) are mostly absent in the rest of Cascadia. Populations of unique subspecies of fritillaries should be abundant.

Our headquarters will be in the communities of Joseph and Enterprise, and the Saturday evening keynote address will feature Dr. Dana Ross, long a recognized expert in Oregon lepidoptera. He is a life-long butterfly enthusiast who transformed avocation to vocation over the past two decades. His work involves tracking rare butterfly populations and documenting the insects of important ecological sites throughout Oregon. Currently, this includes monitoring populations of the endangered Taylor’s checkerspot (Euphydryas editha taylori) and Fender’s blue (Plebejus icarioides fenderi) butterflies, searching for populations of the elusive seaside hoary elfin (Callophrys polios maritima) and other rarities, conducting moth and butterfly inventories at several PNW sites, and Crater Lake National Park. He is frequently accompanied in these endeavors by friends Gary Pearson of Springfield, Oregon and Linda Kappen of Applegate, Oregon. Since the passing of John Hinchliff in the late 1990’s, Dana has been the “Oregon Record Keeper” for the Northwest Lepidopterists’ Association. Dana lives in Corvallis, Oregon with wife Ann and son Zane.

We will meet at the Hurricane Creek Grange, in Joseph Friday evening, when David James shows us slides of what we may see on our field trips, as well as for dinner, keynote, and festivities on Saturday evening.

Camping and affordable lodging are available at several good locations within 15 miles of the Grange, so please be looking for details in this issue of the G’num. A key field trip destination will be a tram ride up to the top of 8,200 ft high Mt Howard, where fairly level trails thread their way amongst meadow and scree for close up exploration of a rugged habitat.

The individual adult fare for the tram ride is $29, but may be discounted for a group like ours. As we did last summer, we may offer a free extra field day on Monday, August 8th, for those hardy souls who wish to remain for another try at locating some of the unique butterfly fauna of the area.

Dr. David James presenting images and discussion of the butterflies of Mt Howard and vicinity, especially those likely to be seen the at this year’s study weekend.

G’num2016Vol17No1