Guest Speaker
"Bring Them Back Alive: Conserving Illinois' Rarest Butterflies" by Doug Taron,
Doug Taron has been the Curator of Biology at Chicago Academy of Sciences’ Peggy
Notebaert Nature Museum since the museum’s opening in 1999. Taron has a particular
fascination with butterflies, which started at age 6 when he received his first butterfly
net in his home state of Massachusetts.
In 1989, Taron became Director of the Butterfly Monitoring Network, a volunteer-based
organization monitoring the health of butterfly populations in nature preserves
throughout Illinois. Under his leadership, the program grew from seven to 150 sites.
He joined the Chicago Academy of0ASciences as an exhibit coordinator in 1997,
developing content for the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven and Wilderness Walk exhibits
and providing supplemental technical content for all other exhibits at the Museum. In
1999, the respected conservation biologist set up his work station at the Nature
Museum, the teaching and learning center of the Academy. Since 2001, Taron has
served as the primary investigator for the Museum’s Butterfly Restoration Project,
which studies and restores endangered and threatened butterfly species to their
native habitats. In 2008, Taron received the Chicago Wilderness Excellence in
Conservation Award for his butterfly restoration work.
Doug Taron has been the Curator of Biology at Chicago Academy of Sciences’ Peggy
Notebaert Nature Museum since the museum’s opening in 1999. Taron has a particular
fascination with butterflies, which started at age 6 when he received his first butterfly
net in his home state of Massachusetts.
In 1989, Taron became Director of the Butterfly Monitoring Network, a volunteer-based
organization monitoring the health of butterfly populations in nature preserves
throughout Illinois. Under his leadership, the program grew from seven to 150 sites.
He joined the Chicago Academy of0ASciences as an exhibit coordinator in 1997,
developing content for the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven and Wilderness Walk exhibits
and providing supplemental technical content for all other exhibits at the Museum. In
1999, the respected conservation biologist set up his work station at the Nature
Museum, the teaching and learning center of the Academy. Since 2001, Taron has
served as the primary investigator for the Museum’s Butterfly Restoration Project,
which studies and restores endangered and threatened butterfly species to their
native habitats. In 2008, Taron received the Chicago Wilderness Excellence in
Conservation Award for his butterfly restoration work.
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