Name: Insights into the Biodiversity of Butterflies & Moths of the Siskiyous
Start: 2026-05-02T14:30:00-07:00
End: 2026-05-02T17:00:00-07:00
Location: Geos Institute, 84 4th St. Ashland OR

Insights into the Biodiversity of Butterflies & Moths of the Siskiyous

Please register for the book signing and presentation.
Schedule:
2:30 - 3:30 Book signing and chatting
3:30 - 5:00 Presentation and discussion
Topics will include:
* How to read a map and listen to what it has to say
* Lepidoptera as harbingers of climate change
* Lost and found - in search of rare species
* The interdependence of flora and fauna, ala caterpillar foodplants
* For better or worse - the impacts of disturbance on the balance of nature
* Where and how to contribute to our knowledge on lepidoptera in Southern Oregon
Dr. Miller will have copies of a new 2-volume Butterflies of Oregon: An Updated Atlas Honoring John Hinchcliff for sale for $95 (check only).
Dr. Jeffrey C. Miller first studied Entomology in 1971 as an undergraduate student, then graduate student, then Post-Doctorate Scholar, then Instructor at UC Davis into 1979. The UC Davis era was followed by a career at Oregon State University from 1979 to 2015 holding titles from Assistant Professor to Professor of Entomology, and currently Professor Emeritus. Teaching included 16 course titles ranging among General Ecology, Biological Control, Taxonomy, Biodiversity, and Photoshop. Research included insect management in agricultural and forest systems, insect biodiversity in woodlands and coniferous forests of Oregon, and insect biosystematics with an emphasis on Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) and their caterpillars. Photography has been a relevant and rewarding activity culminating in six books, four published by the US Forest Service and two by Harvard Press, primarily featuring images focused on caterpillars. Studies concerning caterpillar foodplants were initiated in 1986 stimulated by assessing non-target impacts of Btk and then the 1994 publication of An Atlas of Oregon Butterflies by John Hinchliff. Along the way numerous projects have included Dr. Paul C. Hammond, Dana N.R. Ross, and Dennis A. Albert.
Dana N.R. Ross is a freelance entomologist and courtesy faculty in the Department of Integrative Biology at Oregon State University. Having discovered butterflies at the age of four, the experience led to decades of butterfly pursuits and documentation throughout Oregon and the surrounding states. After earning an M.S. degree from Oregon State University under Dr. Jeffrey C. Miller, he was awarded numerous federal, state and private contracts to survey and monitor rare butterflies and to perform species inventories at important ecological sites throughout the region. His extensive fieldwork led to the documentation of butterflies from less frequented and poorly studied locales. Dana currently co-leads annual butterfly counts at Oregon Caves National Monument and teaches at the Siskiyou Field Institute. He has contributed to many Lepidoptera publications and has both an Ecuadorean moth and a PNW butterfly named after him. In a special category of credits he was recognized as “Moth and Butterfly Wrangler” in the movie The Dark Divide, a story about Robert Michael Pyle.
Please register for the book signing and presentation here.