Photo by Susie Imholt

Western Washington University faculty member John McLaughlin has received a $45,000 grant from the National Park Service to conduct a butterfly census of the North Cascades National Park and the Mount Rainier National Park over the next two years.

McLaughlin, an associate professor of Environmental Science at WWU's Huxley College of the Environment, said a species inventory is especially important now because butterflies are an important indicator of climate change. They are extremely sensitive to dips or changes in the climate, he said, meaning that abnormally high temperatures or low snowpack levels can cause extinction in certain areas.

For more photos from this project, visit the collection in the FAST Online Image Gallery.