target niche (was: Re: "natural" photos?)

[Mike Quinn]

Dear Mr. Koehn,

First let me congratulate you on your being the 2001 John Abbot Award
Recipient, as granted by the Southern Lepidopterists' Society. I agree your
efforts have truly been a mainstay of the Southern Lepidopterists' Society.

The doors to all entomological societies world-wide are indeed open to all
comers, but it's been my observation over the last 10 years that the number
of folks walking through those open doors is not even keeping up with the
general population's growth. (The SLS is no exception as their membership
actually declined from 234 in 1992, to a low of 88 in 1996.) As an
entomologist I too lament this unfortunate truth. What are we to do? I was
heartened to see that Harry Pavulaan of Virginia had augmented his State
Coordinator's Report for the Dec. 2001 issue of the SLS with reports and
observations from the VA-MD-DE-Bugs and the  valeps listservs. Also included
were species from the NABA "sightings" page and from the NABA 4th of July
Butterfly Count. But when one gets to the actual report, all the text
listing numerous species is all run together in a similar format that has
since been abandoned by the Lep Soc in their Season Summary.

If the SLS wants to encourage novices to walk through their doors, I suggest
these lists need to be put in columns with one record per line, a la the
current Lep Soc SS. In this manner, there might even be room to (gasp)
include a common name or two. If you truly want to attract new members,
particularly youthful members, then all I can say is prove it. Including
both the scientific and the common name dumbs nothing down. If the mountain
(the masses) won't come to Mohammed...

NABA enlisted 500 members by the end of it's founding year, 1992. It now has
29 local chapters across 16 states. <http://www.naba.org/chapters.html> I
think their membership is somewhere over 4,000 by now. As "American
Butterflies" has a strong flavor of the editor, each individual chapter also
has a local flavor. Some are gardening oriented, while others are more field
oriented. Although one person at the top stands out as a lightening rod for
controversy, over all, I don't think there is a single NABA voice.

Getting back to the NABA chapters. Don't you find it unusual that such
chapters are forming at all, particularly in the 1990's? Isn't this the era
where according to a recent book, we (in the US) aren't suppose to be
"bowling" (i.e. forming clubs) anymore? Even the great 1970's tidal wave of
environmental/conservation organization formations didn't yield any local
clubs/societies/chapters, at least none that I'm aware of (other than
perhaps garden clubs). The Sierra Club was founded in 1892 and National
Audubon Society was founded in 1905.

I am about to suggest something that may again raise some hackles. NABA,
because it does have 29 chapters in 16 states actually has a strong grass
roots following. That grass roots base has a multi-faceted origin. According
to a survey of the NABA membership, one third came into butterflying from a
gardening perspective; one third came in from a birding perspective; and the
last third came straight into butterflying without a significant background
in neither gardening nor birding. Although not touched on in the survey
results, I wouldn't be surprised if a significant portion of the final third
actually had a strong collecting back ground as does Jeff Glassberg.
(Ironically, Jeff and Bob Robbins grew up together collecting butterflies in
New York!)

The simple reason that vast majority of people will not and have not taken
up collecting has little to do with any NABA policy. This reality was
pointed out by something that I believe I read in the pages of the News of
the SLS. Someone wrote that it takes, on average 20 minutes of handling time
to process a lepidoptera specimen from beginning to end. This "20 minute
reality" has changed very little, I think in the last 300 plus years. The
only significant change in lep processing has come in computer labeling. Now
if a long series of specimens are collected at the same location and date,
multiple labels can be quickly generated thus slightly shortening the
processing time. (Of course some early lepidopterists got around the hassle
of labeling by writing such gems of information as, "Feb., Texas"!)

So far, my original suggestion that (regardless of their openness)
lepidopterological societies mostly attract scientists and that NABA is in
fact attracting the masses, has resulted in a rebuttal of near deafening
silence... As a Texan, it's hard for me to publicly admit this, but bigger
doesn't necessarily mean better. However, NABA's undeniable success has
given it a strong voice in shaping public opinion. In the end, it's my
belief that as more and more people are introduced to the joys of
butterflying, the public will demand that more money be spent on research,
education and conservation.

This is already happening in a very big way in the Rio Grande Valley. Look
at the pictures on the "Recent RGV Rarities" web page:
<http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/recent.html> I think every single one
of these pictures was submitted by someone that started seriously looking at
butterflies only within the last two to three years! The most significant of
these were the pictures of the Rusty-tipped Page (Siproeta epaphus) shot and
correctly identified by a local couple. This represents the first Texas
record and the second US record.

As equally important as the fact that local people are now quite
knowledgeable and rightfully proud of their lepidofauna, is the fact that
new habitat is for the first time being created in the Rio Grande Valley
specifically for butterflies and other insects. In the end, isn't this what
most of us are working for? Not primarily to fill our drawers with more
specimens, but to see to it that there will always be a place for
butterflies in our world? I know that's my goal.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Mike & Gloria Quinn
2670 Country Ledge Dr
New Braunfels, TX 78132
830-626-7324 home
ento at satx.rr.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Leptraps at aol.com [mailto:Leptraps at aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2002 8:28 AM
To: ento at satx.rr.com; rbenavid at hotmail.com
Cc: LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: target niche (was: Re: "natural" photos?)


Mr. Quinn:

The Lepidopterists is not for just scientist, it is for Lepidopterists, both
amateur and professional. I am an amateur Lepidopterists, I do not have a
degree in Biology or Entomology, I do however, consider myself to have some
knowledge of Lepidoptera. I understand the need for field work, life history
studies, collecting specimens, and maintaining precise data on the specimens
I collect. I am not a scientist by training, but I am one good
Lepidopterists. I am a member of the Lepidopterists Society for over 30
years.  I am also a member of the following: Southern Lepidopterists Society
and I have served as Newsletter Editor, the Society of Kentucky
Lepidopterist and I am currently the Newsletter Editor, the Association for
Tropical Lepidoptera, the Ohio Lepidopterists Society, etc., etc. I am proud
to be a member of the all and especially proud to be a Lepidopterists.

I was once a member of NABA, however, there is only once voice in NABA, it
is not the voice of a Lepidopterists. As a result, I chose to no longer
wanted to be part of it. I have had two ugly encounters with members of
NABA, a trap was destroyed on one occasion and a Park Manager was told I was
using my research permit to collect endangered butterflies to sell on
another. Only a very small number of NABA members are anti-collecting. These
few proudly proclaim that "THEY" and "NABA" are opposed to collecting. The
one true voice in NABA, remains silence on this issue.

You are wrong Mr. Quinn, the Lepidopterists Society is for Lepidopterists
and anyone with an interest in Lepidoptera.



Leroy C. Koehn
202 Redding Road
Georgetown, Kentucky
USA          40324-2622
Tele.: 502-570-9123
Cell: 502-803-5422
E-mail: Leptraps at aol.com

"Let's get among them"
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