Mount Rainier Cascades Butterfly Project

This is an intermittent volunteer opportunity. Housing is not included.

The Cascades Butterfly Project needs you! Get out into the beautiful mountains of North Cascades National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and help wildlife biologists identify and count alpine butterflies during the summer of 2020.

Alpine meadows in these two National Parks are expected to shrink dramatically due to the effects of climate change, but as of now, the rate and magnitude of this change is unknown. Butterflies make ideal indicator species because they are particularly sensitive to climatic changes, and are relatively easy to identify in the field by scientists and volunteers alike. So come for a hike in some of the Northwest’s most scenic alpine meadows and help contribute to this important research!

Volunteers will work with the supervisor to determine a schedule that matches the park's needs with the volunteer's availability. Volunteers may work 1-3 days at a time intermittently throughout the summer and will be expected to participate in at least two surveys.

Volunteer Training: We will be holding a volunteer training in which participants will learn more about the project and the ecology of Cascades butterflies. The trainings will have two components: an hour-long classroom session, followed by a longer afternoon field excursion where we will practice field ID and scientific research protocols in subalpine meadows.

Volunteer training is highly recommended, but not mandatory for participation in the project. Training dates for 2020have not yet been set.

For more information please contact Regina Rochefort at [email protected].