The Amazon Burning - Kids and Bugs to the Rescue!

Dear rainforest supporter,

We couldn’t have asked for a better way to close 2025. On the research front, our work with butterflies in our molecular lab continues to grow, producing new articles and valuable information for the scientific community. We are also thrilled to share that the Peruvian Forestry Department has officially approved our natural history collection of butterflies and moths as a national collection.

In April 2025, we began building a dedicated facility in Puerto Maldonado to permanently house this collection. Once completed in mid-2026, this new space will allow us to expand the collection and develop teaching collections that can be used by local students, professors, and researchers—creating an important new educational resource for the region.

On the education front, we received a small grant from the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS) to carry out a series of educational field visits to our station during the second half of this year. These visits included more than 90 elementary school students from both rural and urban schools, as well as over 80 local undergraduate students and professors. The goal was to raise awareness about the work carried out at an active field station like ours and highlight its importance for the region’s development.

We want to thank you for your constant support and take this opportunity to wish you a very joyful holiday season.

Warm regards,
Geoff, Johana, and the entire ASA family