Hello Butterfly fans,

The votes are in, we surpassed the 25-vote threshold set forth in the bylaws and the WBA Board is now in place for the 2024-2025 season. Congratulations to all our nominees; I am looking forward to hearing everyone’s great ideas to keep WBA a great resource for all butterfly enthusiasts across the state! A bit of a recap: Carolyn Heberlein launched the Survey Monkey on September 13, we had a 30% response rate which, according to the folks that do this for a living, is a good response! Thanks Carolyn for taking charge of the election voting and to Sylvia Sheets for getting our profiles formatted and posted on the web! If you missed the profiles, you can check out Our Board.

As we have run out of warm sunny days to chase butterflies in Washington it is now time to turn our attention to planning for our next field season and WBA activities. To start, next year’s Study Weekend will be held around Yakima focusing on some new areas David James discovered last year; and, anyone who joined him on last year’s field trip can attest to the magical butterfly experience! Much more to come regarding future plans.

Along with our Study Weekend field activities we have an opportunity to sponsor young butterfly enthusiasts to join us through the Idie Ulsh Scholarship that covers much of the expenses for them and a parent for the weekend. This is a wonderful chance for us to engage and grow the future of lepidoptery. If you have candidates between the ages of 13-17 or are interested in joining (or chairing!) the Scholarship Committee, contact us with subject line ‘Scholarship’.

Invitations to participate at many fairs and festivals across the state continue to pop in and we hope to take advantage of more of these tabling opportunities to spread the word about WBA. Last year we were able to do outreach at multiple events thanks to our members and Board volunteers. This is a fun and valuable way to communicate and engage the public to grow our organization and fulfill our WBA mission as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the appreciation, understanding, and conservation of butterflies and other pollinators and their ecology. We will get the word out through our Washington Butterfly Association email for opportunities to participate in tabling events. If you would like to be part of our troop of volunteers, contact us with subject line ‘Tabling’ and we will communicate with you directly.

The Web design update is underway so stay tuned for that exciting launch! Along with our webpage, we have a Facebook page, YouTube Channel, Meetup Groups and we plan to expand our Social Media presence with an Instagram ac- count. This is a great way to share our admiration and knowledge of amazing butterflies.

And finally, as we face an uncertain climate both physically and politically, we hope to find ways to expand our conservation efforts and partnerships with likeminded organizations. Through surveys, fundraising and sponsorships we can throw our WBA support into understanding the impacts these exogenous shocks have on the species and find ways to help in their preservation for future generations to enjoy. Stay tuned and I hope you will join us in these future endeavors.

Hope you’re enjoying the off season.