Greetings & Salutations Fellow Lepidopterans,

As I am driving along Highway 12 on my way to Dayton, WA I am filled with conflicting ideas and emotions. What could go wrong… it is a long list for another day. On the bright, happy, cheery side; I am excited to see what I believed to be about 30 butterfliers. These are people that I have known for ten years and a few of them much, much longer. They are mixed with new fresh faces that I have not had the pleasure of meeting yet. And the rest are faces and names I know only from zoom meetings. And now I get a chance, the first in two years of melding all of these people into one powerful but fun loving entity called WBA.

That’s right. We are a powerful and fun-loving group. We are powerful in that we are the eyes that witness what is going on in the natural world. We are the ears that hear what interested but non-butterfly folks are thinking about these beloved insects. We are the people behind the cameras and nets that document the diversity of our corner of the world. We report back to the folks who are in a position to influence policy and publish for the world to see what is going on and what a positive group of people are accomplishing right here in the great State of Washington .

We should thank and support our science group who gives countless hours of their time and energy to our cause. Bob Pyle, Jon P. Pelham, David James, Merrill Peterson, Dave Nunnallee and Caitlin Le Bar are all Northwest Lepidopterists who publish new scientific knowledge and trends. Their accessibility and dialogue are so crucial to us expanding our knowledge base and helping shape the future of our natural world – and not just our butterflies and other pollinators, but the plants that depend upon them and other animals in turn.

And are we fun loving? If you had a chance to be there at Lewis & Clark Trail State Park as we gathered for the first time in two very long and trying two years, then you know the answer. To see the hugs given and received (after checking to see if people were covid comfortable with that first) and to hear people checking in to see how they were doing, how they were coping with the isolation and distance of our changed world. To hear continued good discussion at the field trip stops, our pizza get together made it obvious that we were genuinely enjoying each others company. And to the many members that were unable to make it to the Blue Mountains this year. I heard nothing but positive comments and renewed enthusiasm to continue this fine tradition again next year and beyond. Perhaps in a location less distant than the Blue Mountains and in a more forgiving world, it will make this available to us all once again. And maybe next year, will be the year with no flat tires!

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