North American Butterfly Association

NABA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with a mission: conservation of butterflies and habitat and to increase public enjoyment of butterflies. Incorporated in 1992, the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) is the largest group of people in North America focused on butterflies. NABA encourages you to enjoy, learn about, and identify butterflies with binoculars and cameras, rather than with nets, jars, and framed displays. There are chapters throughout the US, working at the state and/or local level to conserve butterflies and to educate the public. Join NABA as an individual or as part of a chapter. NABA publishes American Butterflies and Butterfly Gardener magazines. Our four focus areas are:

• Butterfly Conservation
  NABA works to save butterfly species throughout North America. NABA is on the steering committees of the Monarch Joint Venture and the Florida Imperiled Butterfly Working Group. NABA saved the last known colony of Regal Fritillaries in eastern North America from destruction.  
• Butterfly Monitoring
  Fourth of July Butterfly Counts are part of the NABA Butterfly Monitoring Program. NABA has amassed the largest database of butterfly occurrences and abundances in the world. These data are increasingly used by scientists to study butterfly population trends and to answer questions about butterfly biology.
• Butterfly Gardening
  NABA’s Program for Butterfly Gardening and Habitats promotes the creation of habitats to increase the world’s population of butterflies. A Butterfly Garden Certification is available for Individuals and institutions.
• Butterfly Taxonomy
  Top butterfly taxonomists serve on the NABA Names Committee. The committee evaluates new published data regarding butterfly taxonomy and, if warranted, makes changes to the NABA Checklist and the NABA-published English Names of North American Butterflies.  

NABA also owns and operates the National Butterfly Center (NBC), a 100-acre conservation, education and research center in Mission, Texas. NABA has transformed a neglected farm into a botanical garden. More than 220 species of wild butterflies have now been seen at the NBC.  www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/