2025 Annual Meeting

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Please join us for the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Lepidopterists’ Society as we gather in Sierra Vista, Arizona and enjoy the wide-open spaces of the American West. The meeting will be held from Wednesday, July 30th to Sunday, August 3rd and is hosted by Kelly Richers, Chuck Harp and Todd Gilligan. The area provides an outstanding array of scenery, western history, and opportunities for exploring a diverse flora and fauna. The location for two previous Lepidopterists’ Society meetings, Sierra Vista is a modern city of 50,000 people that is most well-known for Fort Huachuca, home of the Army’s famed Buffalo Soldiers. Sierra Vista is located on the southwestern side of Cochise County and is 15 miles southwest of the historic town of Tombstone, 20 miles northwest of Bisbee, and 16 miles from the border of Mexico.

The area around Sierra Vista is home to some of the most famous Lepidoptera collecting locations in the entire country. Field trips will include both collecting and observing, which will feature both daytime and night collecting trips to lower Carr Canyon and other local canyons depending on the weather. Also within close reach are Ramsey Canyon, Carr Canyon, Miller Canyon and Ash Canyon, as well as the desert east of the city. Within driving distance is the Coronado National Memorial, Guadalupe Canyon, and other locations near Portal. The Huachuca Mountains just west of town offer some of the most diverse habitat in Arizona, from lower riparian habitat to high elevation campsites and observation/collecting areas.

The meetings and lodging will be held at the Clarion Inn (formerly Sierra Suites), with many other lodging and camping options located nearby. Saturday’s banquet will be catered by the Orient Express Restaurant, with a Friday barbeque catered by Bam Bam Barbeque at Veteran’s Memorial Park.

The Executive Council meeting will be held Wednesday morning July 30th in the Vernadero Room at the Clarion Inn (Sierra Suites) and the welcome reception will be Wednesday evening at the hotel. The scientific program (talks and posters) will be scheduled for Thursday (July 31st) and Friday (August 1st), with Saturday morning available if needed. The banquet will be held Saturday night at the Clarion Inn (Sierra Suites), again followed by an organized nighttime collecting trip after the meal. Dark skies come late in the summer here, collecting sites are always nearby and accessible, and we assume there will be unofficial collecting trips every night during the meeting.

A block of rooms will be reserved at the the Clarion Inn Sierra Suites for LepSoc members, with special rates for the meeting. Please call and ask for the LepSoc pricing when booking.

Call for Contributed Papers

To submit a contributed paper, please download the PDF, fill it out, and send it to Kelly Richers at meeting@lepsoc.org. The deadline for submitting a paper is June 20th.

Meeting Dates

• Tuesday, July 29:
  • Wedge Foundation meeting preceding the LepSoc meeting
• Wednesday, July 30:
  • Executive Council Meeting, 9:00 a.m. until completed (by 3 p.m.)
  • Welcome Reception at hotel, possible field trip
• Thursday, July 31:
  • Presentations, possible field trip
• Friday, August 1:
  • Presentations
  • Barbeque at Veterans Memorial Park
• Saturday, August 2:
  • Presentations if needed (a.m.)
  • Business meeting (p.m.)
  • Banquet by Orient Express Restaurant
• Sunday, August 3:
  • Leave the meeting, day trips possible

Location

The Clarion Inn Sierra Suites is located on East Fry Boulevard, and can be reached directly east off of Buffalo Soldier Trail or west off Rt. 92.

Registration

Registration includes access to all field trips, the welcome reception Wednesday evening, presentations on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and informal moth collecting/observing most nights. BBQ (Friday night) and Banquet (Saturday night) tickets.

• Meeting (Members $180), includes BBQ and Banquet
• Meeting (Students $90), includes BBQ and Banquet

• Meeting (Non-Members $200), includes BBQ and Banquet

• Additional BBQ tickets ($29/each), arrangements for serving alcohol are being made
• Additional Banquet tickets ($50/each), cash bar will be open at banquet plus each seat gets one drink ticket

We will likely use the now-familiar numbered tickets to attach to each registration package, one for completed registration, one for the banquet, one for the BBQ.

Note: If you have any dietary preferences or restrictions, please reach out to the meeting organizers at meeting@lepsoc.org, so that we can accommodate your request.

Rooms (Separate, not included in registration costs)

Rates at the the Clarion Inn Sierra Suites are:

• $119 per night, King single or double occupancy

• $139 per night, Double single or double occupancy
• $169 per night, Queen Suite, single or double occupancy

Rooms are subject to Tax and local fees

We have 10 King and 10 Double rooms reserved at this price. Please call and mention the LepSoc meeting for the preferred pricing. There are many other hotels and lodging options available in Sierra Vista with a variety of prices. There are also many camping options in the area, ranging from RV parks to KOAs to State Parks. Book early!