Liz Kuehn
President
Liz has 2 Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Washington. She retired from Boeing Commercial Airplanes after 29 years. The last 15 of those were as a manager in 737 Electrical Systems Engineering. She has been member of WBA since 2017, and joined the Board in 2021 as Secretary and became President in March of 2024.
When not chasing butterflies on a WBA field trip, she can usually be found in her garden pulling weeds, or clicking a shutter taking photographs, out birding, drawing, painting, or babysitting her grand nephews, or just hanging with her family and friends.
Dan Dunphy
Vice President
Like Liz, Dan has been employed by The Boeing Company many years; but unlike her – he is still working there!
He joined WBA around 2015 or 2016. His primary interest was in birding. And dragonflies, and old growth forests, and lichens, and hiking…see the trend? And, of course, most “recently”: schmetterlings! Butterflies seemed a natural extension.
But, the ‘ring’ that rules over all others (at this point in time) is his love for books . Most Saturdays the past many years, book stores have increasingly been his habitat of choice. Allow a person who knows a nature topic well (like butterflies) coupled with the talent to create a written narrative that is thoughtful, interesting and beautiful – that writer will have Dan’s attention.
Regina Johnson
Treasurer
Regina Johnson, of Tumwater, has been a member of WBA since about 2011, when she attended the Annual Conference in Newport on the Idaho border. She’s been the newsletter editor practically since joining, and treasurer since before the pandemic. The WBA iNaturalist project, Washington State Butterflies, is her creation. She’s also a member of the WA Native Plant Society (South Sound Chapter Botanist and Instagram manager) and the South Sound Mushroom Club (Plant Lady, Polypore Queen and Foray Coordinator). If you should be so foolish as to ask her whether a mushroom can be eaten, the standard reply is that any mushroom can be eaten *once*. (what is this obsession with eating mushrooms?? no one ever asks if a *butterfly* can be eaten, now do they???) She grows a lot of roses, even though butterflies don’t like them, so she mixes butterfly nectar plants among them. The neighborhood Spring Azures and Woodland Skippers approve. The Johnson’s Hairstreak, however, still eludes her.
David James
At Large
David began his entomological career as an eight-year-old in England by rearing caterpillars at home. A University degree in Zoology was followed by a PhD on Monarch Butterfly Biology in Sydney, Australia where he worked for 23 years as an agricultural entomologist for the New South Wales government. In 1999, he moved to Washington State University, developing biological control systems for insect and mite pests of grapes and hops, but he never forgot his butterfly roots. In 2011, he co-authored with Dave Nunnallee, “Life Histories of Cascadia butterflies” that David Attenborough called magisterial. He followed that in 2017 with “The Book of Caterpillars” and his most recent book “The Lives of Butterflies” was published in January 2024. Since 1999, as a faculty member of the Department of Entomology at WSU, he has researched the breeding ecology and migration of monarchs in the western US. He has also published biological studies on a number of WA butterflies including some that advance butterfly conservation on farmland. David has been a WBA board member since 2016 and is active leading field trips and helping us find lots of butterflies on our annual study weekend.
Paulette Murphy
At Large
Paulette fell into butterflies as a result of her volunteer work with The Nature Conservancy and hasn’t looked back. She is the program director for WBA and enjoys finding monthly speakers that span a range of expertise, from unravelling the mysteries of metamorphosis to describing the life of a notable illustrator and entomologist of the 17th century. She has been a research scientist and program manager, and is now launching a third career as a novelist.
Jim Reed
At Large
Born in Hillsboro, Oregon. Grew up in NE Portland. Graduated from Parkrose High School, attended Mt Hood Community College before transferring to Oregon State University. Graduated with a BS in Zoology and General Science. He eventually acquired my MS in Science Education.
He has taught in the Mt Edgecunbe (Sitka, AK) and Neah Bay Schools (4 years) before moving with his wife, Ann, to Klickitat, WA. He spent 1981 to 2022 as a High School Science teacher (also math, PE, and half the coaching staff) and still resides in Klickitat and lives with his son Lucas.
Jim started collecting butterflies in 1981 under the guidance of Jim Christiansen of Yakima. He is active in the Northwest Lepidopterans and the Lepidopteran Society. He joined WBA in 2018 and served as WBA president for two terms.
Melanie Weiss
At Large
Melanie considers herself a naturalist enthusiast. Her fascination with nature began in childhood while wandering through the woods of Alabama, and she passed this interest on to her three sons through frequent camping, hiking and backpacking. Her passion for butterflies was sparked by a newspaper article which included a photo of a small blue butterfly. The article featured the latest book by Bob Pyle and listed a book reading he would be doing. Melanie attended the reading, bought a signed copy of Mariposa Road, discovered the Washington Butterfly Association, and was ‘hooked’!
An avid photographer, Melanie has photographed many of Washington’s butterflies, with a few photos appearing in publications. Her conservation efforts focus on field work and data gathering. For her this includes seasonal monitoring of butterfly areas, compiling data from trips, conducting surveys for protected areas, and leading field trips.
In addition to her terms of service on the WBA Board, Melanie volunteered with the Cascade Butterfly Project for 10 years monitoring butterflies and plants on trails at Mount Rainier NP. Her favorite butterfly is the one in front of her at the present moment.
Carolyn Heberlein
At Large
Idie Ulsh introduced Carolyn to butterflies when she registered for her class at Seattle Audubon. A few years later, she and a few others started the Washington Butterfly Association, and invited Carolyn to join.
Richard Youel discovered that she knew how to create web pages, and she became website admin. She has also edited the newsletter, handled publicity, and been a board member.
When she is not butterflying, she likes to garden at her house in the Fremont District of Seattle where she and her husband Greg and I have lived for over 50 years! Carolyn like to knit and crochet and has received 3 ribbons from the Washington State Fair for 2 sweaters and a Tunisian crochet blanket. Twelve years ago, she retired from full time work as a computer programmer. Since then she has volunteered for 2 years with AARP Fraud Watch Network and 10 years with AARP Tax-Aide Program. She loves to travel and with her most recent trip to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, has been to 62 countries in the world. In December 2025, she and her husband travelled to Antarctica to round out visiting all 7 continents!
Karen Holtrop
At Large
Karen has worked as a wildlife biologist in the Olympic National Forest for about 26 years. She also has two Peace Corps Services under her belt, and a six-month stint on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest early in her career, so altogether she has 31 years of federal service. Karen has a BS in wildlife biology and an MS in ecosystems biology.
She became especially interested in butterflies about 20 years ago. She spends work time monitoring and managing habitat for Taylor’s checkerspot (Euphydryas editha taylori) and other butterfly species. She spends a lot of her spare time butterfly watching, mostly near her home on the north Olympic Peninsula, especially now that her 3 kids are now grown. Often her long-time husband (a native plant enthusiast) tags along.
Alex Corsten
At Large
Alex studied nuclear engineering at Purdue University and is a Project Manufacturing Manager in the nuclear energy industry.
He has been interested in observing insects since he was a kid. Although he has no formal education in entomology, he just loves getting out there to see bugs and has been photographing insects since 2011.
Alex serves on the board of two other Washington Associations. He is the Vice Chair and Conservation Chair for the Columbia Basin Chapter of the Native Plant Society. He is also currently serving as Vice President at Washington Elementary Chess Champions.