The Forest History Center in Grand Rapids started a lecture series this year that runs during the winter months through the end of April. As part of the series, they invited Bemidji local Allison Barta to give her lecture “On the Hunt for Northwoods Butterflies.”

Barta’s idea was one that started when she became a science teacher. She felt the need to lead by example and find a science project to work on as her students worked on their own.

But what started as a fun side project has turned into much more. Loving butterflies as a child, it seemed only fitting she follow that passion. She read a field book by Larry Weber called Butterflies of the Northwoods that contained maps and pictures of some 90 species of butterfly that lived in the Bemidji and other parts of northern Minnesota. Barta decided she would find out if they all did in fact live there by adventuring out and photographing all of them.

It’s been 12 years since she began her quest, and Barta has since retired from teaching, but that has not stopped her. With 41,000 photos taken of butterflies and various other creatures she found along the way later, she is three photos away from reaching her goal.

For Barta, however, it’s not about the result as much as the journey. The next time you find yourself in nature, she urges you to stop and just enjoy all that is around you. And who knows what you might find? It could even be a butterfly.

By — Charlie Yaeger