ROBERT MICHAEL PYLE is a biologist, writer, and Guggenheim Fellow with a PhD in Ecology and Environmental Studies from Yale University. His twenty books include Wintergreen (John Burroughs Medal), The Thunder Tree, Sky Time in Gray's River (National Outdoor Book Award), two poetry collections, and standard works on butterflies. He founded the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and has been named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. He lives in rural southwest Washington.