Robert Michael Pyle (born 19 July 1947) is an American

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the two superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, the r ...

, writer, teacher, and founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Much of his life story is told in the 2020 feature film '' The Dark Divide'', where Pyle is played by

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and director. Cross is best known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show with Bob and David'' (1995–1998), his role as Ian Hawk ...

Early life and education

Pyle grew up in Denver and

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, Colorado, and took all of his early education in Aurora Public Schools, graduating in 1965. He attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where he received a B.S. degree in "Nature Perception and Protection" in a self-styled General Studies program. This was followed by an M.S. in Nature Interpretation from the UW College of Forest Resources. During his time there he was also involved in environmental activism, serving on the university Conservation Council and testifying against unsustainable development plans. A

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

in 1971-72 enabled Pyle to study butterfly conservation at the Monks Wood Experimental Station in Abbot's Ripton,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, with John Heath and other mentors, which led to his founding of th
Xerces Society
in 1971. From there he entered

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Graduate School to study insect conservation ecology with Charles Remington. He received his Ph.D. ("The Eco-geography of Lepidoptera Conservation") from the

Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental students through four 2-year degree programs ( Master of Environmental Management, Master of Environ ...

in 1976. On July 30, 1966, he married his high school sweetheart JoAnne R. Clark, who was also a student of biology. They divorced amicably in 1973, and he married botanist Sally Hughes on June 7, 1974. This second marriage would last a decade. He married Thea Linnaea Peterson Hellyer (a botanist and silk-screen artist) on October 19, 1985. She died of ovarian cancer on November 20, 2013. In 2022, Pyle's New Riverside Press published ''Part of Me: Poems and Other Writings of Thea Linnaea Pyle.''

Career

Conservation biology and research

Pyle worked as ranger-naturalist in

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890, and toda ...

, butterfly conservation consultant for the Wildlife Division of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, Northwest Land Steward for

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in ...

, and co-manager of the Species Conservation Monitoring Center in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, UK, where he co-compiled the IUCN Invertebrate Red Data Book. He has been deeply involved in

Monarch butterfly The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. I ...

conservation since 1975, convening the First Conference on Monarch Conservation and biology in

Morelos Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Mun ...

, Mexico, and chairing The Monarch Project of the Xerces Society with Lincoln Brower and Melody Mackey Allen. He has also been active in old-growth forest conservation in the Pacific Northwest. These involvements continue. Pyle has published many papers on butterfly conservation ecology and biogeography, and he continues field work as Co-coordinator of the Washington Butterfly Survey. He co-authored (with Paul Hammond) a major paper reviewing the Mariposa Copper butterfly (''Lycaena mariposa'') and describing nine new subspecies. His most recent paper reports on the behavior of the Woodland Skipper (''Ochlodes sylvanoides'') during a total eclipse of the sun. Ongoing studies concern forty years of monitoring butterfly phenology at one study site and the biology of a northerly migrant species, both pertaining to climate change.

Teaching and speaking

Pyle has taught writing, conservation biology, and natural history seminars for many colleges and institutes around the world, and presented hundreds of invited lectures and keynote addresses. He has served as Visiting Professor of Environmental Writing at Utah State University; as Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Montana; and as place-based writing instructor for the Aga Khan Humanities Project in Tajikistan and the Writers' Centre of Tasmania. On twenty-five occasions from 1976 to 2013, he was a presenter and field trip leader at the annual week-long National Wildlife Federation Conservation Summits and their successors, Family Nature Summits. He has also led natural history seminars for Cloud Ridge Naturalists, the North Cascades, Olympic Park, and Glacier Park Institutes, and in numerous other settings. He has served on the faculty of the Sitka Institute, Fishtrap, Haystack, Art of the Wild, Breadloaf, and many other writers' conferences and events and has led natural history tours for the National Audubon Society, the Smithsonian Institution, the Wilderness Society, the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, and The Nature Conservancy, and Green & Pleasant Tours ("Birds and Beers of Britain") among others.

Writing

Since 1982, Pyle has been an independent scholar, writer, and biologist, concentrating on writing as his primary professional activity. He writes essay, poetry, and fiction from his home along a tributary of the Lower

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

in Southwest Washington, where he has lived since 1978. He has published 24 books and hundreds of essays, papers, poems, stories, and anthology chapters. Pyle's seminal work, ''Wintergreen: Rambles in a Ravaged Land'' describes the devastation caused by unrestrained logging as well as the remaining beauties of his adopted home in the

Willapa Hills The Willapa Hills is a geologic, physiographic, and geographic region in southwest Washington. When described as a physiographical province, the Willapa Hills are bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Columbia River to the south, the Olymp ...

. His book ''Where

Bigfoot Bigfoot (), also commonly referred to as Sasquatch (), is a large, hairy Mythic humanoids, mythical creature said to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.Example definitions include: *"A large, hairy, manlike ...

Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide'' grew out of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was a major component (along with Pyle's other books) for the 2020 feature film ''The Dark Divide'' starring David Cross as Pyle and

Debra Messing Debra Lynn Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress. After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Messing starred in the television series ''Ned and Stacey'' on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox (1995–1997) an ...

as his wife Thea Linnaea Pyle. ''The Thunder Tree: Lessons from An Urban Wildland'' chronicles the intersection of his

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, counti ...

, boyhood nature explorations and Colorado's long tradition of water rights battles with the importance of everyone's special places, especially children's. Both ''Wintergreen'' and ''The Thunder Tree'' exemplify Pyle's love of damaged lands. His travel narrative ''Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage'' traces his discovery of previously unsuspected

monarch butterfly The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. I ...

migration patterns. ''Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year'' follows up as another far-ranging butterfly road trip narrative, as it chronicles Pyle's coast-to-coast adventures and misadventures while documenting as many butterflies as possible in one year (similar to a birder's

big year A big year is a personal challenge or an informal competition among birders who attempt to identify as many species of birds as possible by sight or sound, within a single calendar year and within a specific geographic area. Popularized in North A ...

). Pyle co-edited and annotated '' Nabokov’s Butterflies'', which collects the novelist's butterfly writings from throughout his literary and scientific opus. ''Walking the High Ridge: Life as Field Trip'' reflects on Pyle's development as a writer and on his sources, influences, and beliefs. ''Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place'' follows the lives of the creatures populating his adopted village month by month through the seasons. A chapbook of poems and stories, ''Letting the Flies Out'', preceded Pyle's first full-length book of poems, ''Evolution of the Genus Iris''. His second book of poems, ''Chinook and Chanterelle'', features cover art by his wife, the late artist and naturalist Thea Linnaea Pyle. Pyle's third longer collection, ''The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures'', is a collaboration with photographer Judy VanderMaten. Other books include ''The

Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

Field Guide to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n Butterflies'', ''The Butterfly Watcher's Handbook'', ''The Butterflies of Cascadia,'' and ''The Butterflies of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

'' ''Magdalena Mountain: A Novel,'' Pyle's first published book of fiction, weaves a converging tale of disparate personalities brought into the high country of Colorado mountain wilderness by their various quests for the all-black

Magdalena alpine The Magdalena alpine (''Erebia magdalena'') is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in North America from Montana, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, and in Canada in a small part of the Willmore Wilderness Par ...

butterfly. The book seeks to blend methods of narrative natural history writing with pure fiction by alternating chapters on Magdalena's life in the high rocks with those of the human characters. Pyle's essays have been collected in three books: ''The Tangled Bank'', his columns from fifty-two consecutive issues of '' Orion'' and ''Orion Afield'' magazines; ''Through a Green Lens: Fifty Years of Writing for Nature''; and ''Nature Matrix: New and Selected Essays'' (September 2020).
Butterfly Launches from Spar Pole
', a collaboration of Pyle with

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

bassist

Krist Novoselic Krist Anthony Novoselic (; ; born May 16, 1965) is an American musician, politician and activist. Novoselic co-founded and played bass on every album for the rock music, rock band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Novoselic and Kurt Cobain formed the ban ...

and Ray Prestegard, is an eleven-track audio album of acoustic song-poems inspired by the natural world.

Awards and honors

*2022: Conservation Award, Royal Entomological Society *2021: Pen America Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay (finalist), ''Nature Matrix: New and Collected Essays'' *2020: Fellow, Entomological Society of America *2018: National Outdoor Book Award, ''Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest'' *2014: Life appointment as Honorary Fellow, Royal Entomological Society *2011:

Washington State Book Award The Washington State Book Awards is a literary awards program presented annually in recognition of notable books written by Washington authors in the previous year. The program was established in 1967 as the Governor's Writers Awards. Each year, u ...

(finalist) in the biography/memoir category, ''Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year'' *2008:

(finalist) for general nonfiction, ''Sky Time in Grays River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place'' *2008:

National Outdoor Book Award The National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA) was formed in 1997 as an American-based non-profit program which each year presents awards honoring the best in outdoor writing and publishing. It is housed at Idaho State University and chaired by Ron Watte ...

in the natural history literature category, ''Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place'' *2008: Distinguished Alumnus Award, Yale University Schools of Forestry & Environmental Studies *2007: Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Washington College of Forest Resources *2002: Harry Nehls Award for Nature Writers, "momentous recent work", Portland Audubon Society *2000: Washington Governor's Book Award, ''Chasing Monarchs'' *1997: Society for Conservation Biology Distinguished Service Award *1989: John Simon

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

, ''Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide'' *1987: Washington Governor's Book Award'', Wintergreen'' *1987: Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, ''Wintergreen'' *1987:

John Burroughs John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the conservation movement in the United States. The first of his essay collections was ''Wake-Robin'' in 1871. In the words of his bi ...

Medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

for Distinguished Nature Writing, ''Wintergreen'' *1985: Washington Governor's Book Award, ''Handbook for'' ''Butterfly Watcher'' *1976: Feinstone Environmental Award (finalist) *1973: National Wildlife Federation Environmental Conservation Fellowship *1971: Fulbright Scholarship *1964: Colorado-Wyoming Academy of Science student research grant *1963: National Science Foundation, pre-college summer science award

Sources

*Kuhlken, Robert. 2002. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 275, ''Twentieth-Century American Nature Writers: Prose'', pp. 261–270. Detroit: Gale. *Pearson, Michael. 1996. ''American Nature Writers'', Volume 2, pp. 733–739. Scribner's.

Bibliography

*Nature Matrix: New and Selected Essays. 2020. Counterpoint. *''The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures'' (with Judy VanderMaten). 2020. Columbia River Reader Press. *''Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest''. With Caitlin C. LaBar. 2018. Timber Press. *''Magdalena Mountain: A Novel''. 2018. Counterpoint Press. *Through a Green Lens: Fifty Years of Writing for Nature. 2016. Oregon State University Press. *''Chinook and Chanterelle:'' ''Poems''. 2016. Lost Horse Press. *''Evolution of the Genus Iris: Poems''. 2014. Lost Horse Press. *''The Tangled Bank: Writings from Orion''. 2012. Oregon State University Press. *''Letting the Flies Out'' (chapbook). 2011. Fishtrap. (Current publisher: New Riverside Press) *''Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year''. 2010. Houghton Mifflin. (Current publisher: Yale University Press) *''Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place.'' 2007. Houghton Mifflin''.'' (Current publisher: Counterpoint) (out in Jan. 2021) *''The Butterflies of Cascadia: A Field Guide to All the Species of Washington, Oregon, and Surrounding Territories''. 2002. Seattle Audubon Society. *''

Nabokov's Butterflies ''Nabokov’s Butterflies'' is a book edited and annotated by Brian Boyd and Robert Michael Pyle that examines and presents Vladimir Nabokov’s passion for butterflies in his literary presentation. The book contains a chapter by Boyd discuss ...

''. Edited and annotated by R. M. Pyle and

Brian Boyd Brian David Boyd (born 30 July 1952) is a professor of literature known primarily as an expert on the life and works of author Vladimir Nabokov and on literature and evolution. He is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of ...

, with new translations from the Russian by

Dmitri Nabokov Dmitri Vladimirovich Nabokov (; May 10, 1934February 22, 2012) was an American opera singer and translator. Born in Berlin, he was the only child of Russian parents: author Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Véra; they emigrated to the United State ...

. 2000. Beacon Press. *''Walking the High Ridge: Life as Field Trip''. 2000. Milkweed Editions. *''Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage''. 1999. Houghton Mifflin. (Current publisher: Yale University Press) *''Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide.'' 1995. Houghton Mifflin. (Current publisher: Counterpoint) *''The Thunder Tree: Lessons from An Urban Wildland''. 1993. Houghton Mifflin. (Current publisher: Oregon State University Press) *''Insects: A Peterson Field Guide Coloring Book'' (with Kristin Kest and Roger Tory Peterson). 1993. Houghton Mifflin. *''Wintergreen:'' ''Rambles in a Ravaged Land''.''.'' 1986. Scribner. (Current publisher: Counterpoint) *''The Audubon Society Handbook for Butterfly Watchers''. 1984. (1992 reprint: Houghton Mifflin) *''The IUCN Invertebrate Red Data Book'' (with Susan M. Wells and N, Mark Collins). 1983. IUCN/WWF. *''Butterflies: A Peterson Field Guide Coloring Book'' (with Sarah Anne Hughes and Roger Tory Peterson). 1983. Houghton Mifflin. *''The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies.'' 1981. Knopf. *''Watching Washington Butterflies''. 1974. Seattle Audubon Society. (text and photographs) - the first guide of its kind to use colour photographs taken exclusively in nature

Other contributions

*''Earth & Eros'' (foreword "The Earth Whispers and Croons"). 2015. White Cloud Press. *''Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril'' (essay "Evening Falls on the Maladaptive Ape"). 2010. Trinity University Press. *''Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape'' (several entries). 2006. Trinity University Press. *''The Way of Natural History'' (essay "A Natural Histerrical Feller in an Unwondering Age"). 2010. Trinity University Press. *''Wild in the City'' (introduction "No vacancy" and chapter "Bright Butterflies, Big City."). 2011. Oregon State University Press. *''Nature's Fading Chorus: Classic and Contemporary Writings on Amphibians'' (prologue "Reflections in a Golden Eye," and chapter "Waterproof Wildlife.") 2000. Island Press. *''Facing the Lion: Writers on Life and Craft'' (essay "Secrets of the Talking Leaf"). 1996. Beacon Press. *''Words From the Land, Volume II'' (essay "A Grand Surprise"). 1995. University of Nevada Press. *''The Norton Book of Nature Writing'' (essay "And the Coyotes Will Lift A Leg"). 1990. Norton. *''Butterfly Gardening: Creating Summer Magic in Your Garden'' (afterword and chapter "Butterfly Watching Tips"). 1990; new edition, 1998. Xerces Society/Sierra Club Books. *''The Art of the Butterfly'' (afterword). 1990. Chronicle/Marquand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyle, Robert Michael 1947 births Living people American lepidopterists American non-fiction environmental writers John Burroughs Medal recipients Writers from Washington (state) Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies alumni People from Wahkiakum County, Washington