WBA President John Baumann finds a subject to photograph as other members flock to his call.

Members of the Washington Butterfly Association enjoyed a “wonderful event” in Wallowa County after a weekend of butterfly hunting on Mount Howard and in the Hurricane Creek area. The WBA gathers annually, and this year’s conference was based at Hurricane Creek Grange in Joseph.

The group brought with them two scholarship students — Ingrid Brown, 12, of Seattle and Mallory Keenan, 10, of Vashon Island. Both girls came with a parent who vouched for their naturalist interests and assisted them in their butterfly adventure.

Like many folks who find their way to butterfly hunting, Brown began as a birder. She learned about the event from her science teacher at Eckstein Middle School.

“She told me to ‘get the scholarship, you’ll really have a great time.’ And I’d like to more about insects,” Brown said.

Her dad, Chris Brown, said they began noticing butterflies the moment they heard of the event and had already identified a Western Tiger Swallowtail beforehand.

Mallory Keenan’s mom is a member of the club and is currently finishing a book for parents and children about butterflies of Vashon Island. Keenan and her parents have raised Painted Lady and Anise Swallowtail butterflies from caterpillars and released them into the wild. Last year they raised butterflies from eggs laid on a bull thistle.

“The coolest thing about butterflies is releasing them,” said Keenan, who attends Chautauqua Elementary on Vashon Island.

The two scholarship students were the first to accompany the group and did so thanks to the generosity of a member who left the group scholarship money in her will.

Club members hunt, examine and photograph butterflies — they don’t collect them.

In fact, Al Wagner of Seattle tells the story of how he originally got involved with the club and foolishly brought his butterfly collection (he’d made when he was 12) with him to his first meeting.

“The president of the club threw it in the trash,” he recalled with a laugh.

The group enjoyed several programs in addition to their hunting trips, including a talk by Dr. David James, professor of entomology at Washington State University. Dr. James has written several butterfly books and co-authored others with David Nunally, who also attended. James also works with inmates serving life sentences at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary to breed, tag and release monarch butterflies.

That program has been going for five summers.

“The men are remarkably enthused about this,” James said. “And the prison loves it because it promotes prison harmony.”

James said there are 89 species of butterflies in Wallowa County and diversity remains stable, although populations are “way down,” most likely due to heavy spring rains and hot summer conditions.

Nunally scouted the locations in Wallowa County and despite rain and cold conditions on Sunday morning, the group found plenty of butterflies to photograph and discuss.

“Mount Howard is memorable to me because in 2010 pine white butterflies were coming down on me like snow,” James said. “It was a mass eruption year and they sometimes get carried aloft by wind and then rain down like that.”

Two local butterfly fanciers signed up to accompany the group Sunday as they made their way up the back of Mount Howard.

In particular, locals can court fame my looking for various sulfur butterflies, James said.

“There are a lot of mysteries about sulfur butterflies in Wallowa County,” James said. “I’ve heard reports. There may be large sulfurs that have not been scientifically identified in the area.”

Wallowa County residents interested in butterflies can contact the Washington Butterfly association at http://wabutterflyassoc.org.

The closest representative of the Oregon Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association is Sue Anderson of Sisters. Contact her at celastrinasue@gmail.com.