Butterflies are valuable and beautiful contributors to our environment. From the tiniest blue to the largest swallowtail, we endeavor to understand more about butterflies and moths throughout our world and preserve their habitats thus ensuring a continuation of their life cycle. The butterfly farmers and gardeners of Association for Butterflies work with their local agencies, landowners, schools, libraries, and other nonprofit organizations to create habitats and increase public knowledge about the importance of butterfly conservation.

To celebrate the beauty and importance of these amazing creatures,  AFB has created an annual holiday the first Saturday in June of each year. We believe that with the creation of a national day to celebrate butterflies we will promote the importance and joy of butterfly gardening and habitat creation/restoration.

Butterfly Education and Awareness Day (BEAD) – June 7, 2025
Aesthetically pleasing, important pollinators, and excellent teachers of metamorphosis, the butterfly can be celebrated through a variety of activities. MORE INFORMATION

Butterfly Mini-Grant
To Be Awarded June
AFB has begun a fund raising endeavor to promote the conservation of butterflies and their habitat. Funds will be raised through the sale of an annual commemorative bead with the profits to be awarded by a matching grant for conservation projects.  MORE INFORMATION

As part of our mission, AFB proudly supported these conservation projects.

Monarch Tagging in New Zealand New Zealand, about the same size as Colorado, tucked away in the south Pacific… a group of islands to the east of Australia. The country has a highly endemic butterfly and moth fauna of nearly 2000 species, with most species being found nowhere else in the world. And yet our understanding of this fauna is in its infancy compared to knowledge of northern hemisphere faunas.  More Here

The Wolf River Conservancy Project Association for Butterflies donated money to The Wolf River Conservancy Project in Memphis, TN, which has about 18,000 acres. Memphis is fighting to preserve land and the money donated will go towards purchasing seeds and supplies to plant the Monarch’s Milkweed host plant, swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).  More Here

Monarch Alert Program in Monterey County What an honor that an, East of the Rockies, Professional Butterfly Breeders Association would be the first to recognize that what we are doing for Monarchs is worth supporting. More Here

Ivy Creek Natural Area Butterfly Garden The Piedmont Garden Club, Girl Scout Troop 167 and the Virginia Native Plant Society have agreed to partner with Ivy Creek Natural Area, located in Charlottesville, VA, to institute a butterfly garden that will be open to the public.  More Here

The Baltimore Checkerspot Conservation Project On June 11, 2006, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens released seven Baltimore Checkerspot butterflies into the wild during a ceremonial release.  During the next week, over 80 butterflies were released after 7PM.  More Here

Other conservation opportunities exist with these groups.

Monarch Watch is an educational outreach program based at the University of Kansas that engages citizen scientists in large-scale research projects. Monarch Watch gets children of all ages involved in science. Our website provides a wealth of information on the biology and conservation of Monarch butterflies and many children use it as a resource for science fair projects or reports.

National Wildlife Federation is a voice for wildlife, dedicated to protecting wildlife and habitat and inspiring the future generation of conservationists.