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"Wings Over Yakima" Washington Butterfly Association Tenth Annual Conference Yakima, Washington July 17 - 19	Bear Canyon near Yakima

Join us as we explore the rocky and rugged wilderness west of Yakima, a first-time location for the WBA Annual Conference. Depending on weather and blooming season, we may be in dry shrub-steppe, moist meadows, or cool sub-alpine habitats. Target locations might include Bear Canyon, the Rimrock area, and/or Bear Creek Mountain.

Possible highlights of butterfly species we may see include the Halfmoon Hairstreak (Satyrium semiluna), Artic Blue (Agriades glandon) Arrowhead Blue (Glaucopsyche piasus), Blue Copper (Lycaena heteronea), Mariposa Copper (Lycaena mariposa), Sonoran Skipper (Polites sonora), Clodius Parnassian (Parnassius clodius), and Two-banded Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus ruralis).

The area also has the “true” Dotted Blue (Euphilotes enoptes) found nowhere else in the state, and small colonies of the endangered Mardon Skipper (Polites mardon); with good timing and some luck we could see these.

If the weather is right, we could see several of the Greater and Lesser Fritillaries – zerene, coronis, callippe, hydaspe, mormonia, chariclea, and epithore. We may even look for a “mystery Pontia” – that could be a new species – related to the Western White (Pontia occidentalis) and Becker’s White (Pontia beckerii).

Click here to download a pdf registration form.
Please print the form, fill it out, and mail with a check as instructed.  

Click here for information on lodging for the Yakima conference.

Deadlines:
June 25 - for Saturday night dinner.
July 9 - for Conference registration and for lunches

Conference Program

Friday, July 17
6:30 - 7:30pm	Check-in, registration, and refreshments at Oxford Suites Yakima Hotel
7:30 - 8:30pm	Butterflies of the Yakima Region presented by Dr. David James. David is Associate Professor, Department of Entomology at Washington State University. He will review butterfly species we are likely to see on Saturday and Sunday field trips, and will go over the type of habitat we will explore. David is an excellent photographer and is collaborating with Dave Nunnallee to research and photograph immature stages of butterflies of Cascadia for their upcoming book.
Saturday, July 18
8:30am	Meet for an all-day field trip
8:30am-4:00pm	All-day field trip.
6:30pm	Dinner, for those who sign up for it, to be held at the Oxford Suites Yakima Hotel
7:30pm	Short business meeting including election of officers at Oxford Suites Yakima Hotel
7:45pm	Conserving the Rainbow Resource by Dr. Robert Michael Pyle Butterfly conservation has a rich history, an energetic present, and a challenging future. Bob Pyle has been deeply involved in this effort for more than forty years, and in this talk he shares some of its most intriguing and important stories. Through striking and historic color slides converted to Powerpoint images, he will take us from the field's beginnings with the Black Hairstreak and the Large Blue in England to the Xerces, Karner, Fender's, and Miami Blues in this country, and consider the future effects of climate change, among other low and high points in the protection of a rich butterfly heritage. Of course there will be examples from our own state of Washington, including what may have been the country's first butterfly preserve.
Sunday, July 19
8:30am	Meet for a half-day field trip
8:30am-1:00pm	Half-day field trip.
1:00pm	Leave for home