President’s Message August 2025

Hello fellow butterfly admirers, As we begin to turn our attention in the waning days of summer with thoughts of hot apple cider and hot chocolate, I hope you had some wonderful encounters with butterflies and moths during this past WBA field season! Our first-rate trip leaders provided a variety of amazing locations, from mountain meadows to valley floors, where we sought the treasured butterflies of Washington State. A big thank you to Melanie Weiss, David James, John Baumann, Hailey Armstrong, David Droppers, and Karen Holtrop for their support in our WBA field experiences. In an era saturated with digital interactions, we are lucky to have people like them who foster a more genuine personal encounter with nature and each other.

WBA loves its volunteers as they are the backbone of the organization. As President of the Board, I can attest to the dedication of each of the Board members and the few individuals who respond when called to action. Their support has kept us going, and with additional help, we can achieve even more. This year’s outreach events were well received and fun, but we had more requests than we were able to handle and, unfortunately, had to turn down many opportunities due to a lack of volunteers. If you are interested in participating in informational tabling at Nature Fests or hosting one in your area, send us a note at wabutterflyassoc@gmail.com. We would love to have your support!

Sharing the WBA mission to help attract new members and highlighting the conservation efforts for butterfly habitats is a fun and rewarding endeavor. This year, we were able to attend several events in support of the mission to promote the enjoyment, conservation, and understanding of butterflies and their ecology through education and science. Some highlights:

The Grand Cinema movie night (David Droppers, Dan Dunphy, Melanie Weiss, and Liz Kuehn)

David James’ Cowiche Canyon Conservancy Walk (David, Melanie Weiss, Pam Gunther, and Liz Kuehn)

Kittitas Environmental Education Network/Get Intimate with the Shrub-Steppe (KEEN/GISS) tabling in Ellensburg (Dan Dunphy and Liz Kuehn)

Our first Big Butterfly Month (all the participants! Melanie Weiss, Karen Holtrop, Regina Johnson and David James)

One of our most recent endeavors was the 2nd Seattle Magnuson Park Butterfly Garden (MPBG) work party. The restoration work continued, and we met again on August 2nd with several of our members ready with pitchforks in hand to transfer a small mountain of woodchips to two new berms and to a path along the Nootka Roses (after cutting them back) to a restful spot with a garden bench. With the help of our members and MESA friends, we accomplished the day’s goals in three hours. My thanks to Richard Youel, Paulette Murphy, Dan Dunphy, Julie O’Donald, Lynn Furguson, Mary Bicknell, and Thomas Kelly for pitching in, so to speak, for our 2nd MPBG work party. As we were admiring our effort and saying our goodbyes, a Lorquin’s Admiral circled over our heads and landed at our feet! A good omen if ever there was one! As noted from our 1st work party, we had an Echo Azure and a Margined White fly past as we finished for the day. I think our effort is butterfly approved!

The woodchip crew – Liz, Dan, and Richard pose for Paulette.

Our annual Study Weekend this year in Yakima had a no-frills approach, even then there is a lot that goes into organizing and managing the events. This year’s event did not disappoint, and I am grateful to the WBA Board for making the weekend a success!

The festivities began Friday night at the Yakima Arboretum with registration, socializing and the grand finale of the night, Mothing with David Droppers. Another great evening with David! He was surprised by the number of moths attracted to the light even in a manicured setting like the Yakima Arboretum. The big hit, at least for me, was the Petrophila moth, it must have been those shiny silver spots along the outer margin of the hind wing! The larval stage is aquatic, and David indicated it found the light due to our proximity to the Yakima River. It was a very cool moth with shiny spots, scintillae of the moth world, maybe. We appreciate that David provided another year of his valuable insights into the fascinating world of moths.

With predictions of snow at Bear Creek Mountain and more favorable condition at Ahtanum on Sunday we made a few changes to our field trip itinerary. Saturday’s destination was switched to Snow Mountain Ranch.

Snow Mtn. Ranch-David James, Zac, Paulette, David Droppers, and Caitlin (R. Johnson)

Regina’s caption – Note the winter coats and rain jackets. We’re not deterred by a little bit of rain! We live in Washington! And we even found some butterflies. They live in Washington too after all. Photo by Karen Holtrop

The day began in a drizzle of rain, but that did not dampen our enthusiasm and with raincoats on we began our butterfly quest. The first sighting was a pair of Becker’s Whites, which David had seen the day before in the same spot. So, cold and rain have some advantages when out butterflying. The pair posed nicely for everyone to get a view and a lot of pictures. A Great Basin Wood Nymph also made an appearance but wasn’t quite as cooperative as a photographic subject, but many got great views, and some identification help from David Droppers. Another surprising find was running into Zac MacDonald. Zac is an Assistant Professor of Conservation Genomics and Biodiversity at University of California, Riverside. He was at Snow Mountain Ranch looking for the Half-moon Hairstreak, the origin species of one in Canada that he and his colleague described that was isolated so long it became genetically distinct. We may have an opportunity to meet him again as a speaker for one of program nights next year. The rain soon let up and although there were some clouds, the temps rose, and we saw several more butterfly species. The dampness and cloud cover kept the species count low but the great thing about our members is their diverse interest in the natural world and many were able to “geek out” on the other flora and fauna found at Snow Mountain Ranch.

We gathered again at the Yakima Arboretum for our evening program. David James reviewed the short species list, the Pizza arrived, and the program began. David presented his latest research paper, a collaborative effort with the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, on the ecology and migration of the Coronis Fritillary, Speyeria coronis. He was introduced by the former Director of the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy and colleague on the project, Betsy Bloomfield, who reminded us of how fortunate we are to have David James as one of our expert members. If you’d like to hear his presentation it is available on our YouTube channel, linked below.

https://youtu.be/V7x83tW1gPs?si=afo1dEqHoviw6uHo

Sunday at Ahtanum made up for the Saturday’s lackluster butterfly show. Ahtanum had sun, warm temps and so many butterflies! It was jaw dropping for many of us who don’t get to experience the east side and the abundance of butterflies.

Although attendance for the weekend was low by historical standards it was full of great camaraderie, many new faces, great butterflying and genuine personal encounters with nature and each other. Another great WBA Study Weekend and excellent scouting by David James! I hope you will join us next year wherever we may be.

The WBA Board elections are on the horizon, with all of our current members ready to serve another term. Consider joining the Board; there is a spot for you! The Candidates for the September 2025-September 2026 term. President – Liz Kuehn, Vice President – Dan Dunphy, Secretary – Karen Holtrop, Treasurer – Regina Johnson, At Large – Alex Corsten, Carolyn Heberlein, David James, Paulette Murphy, Jim Reed, Melanie Weiss, (your name here).

And finally, all our efforts would be even more challenging without the vital legacy knowledge passed down from prior WBA Boards and volunteers. The insights from the founders and members provide a wealth of information and a set of operating principles that we continue to reference today. The Washington Butterfly Association is built on a solid foundation of expertise, dedication, and a passion for butterflies. Looking forward we are optimistic about our ability to continue advocating for these beautiful creatures with your support.

I hope you can get out to enjoy the last butterflies of summer, Liz Kuehn