The North Alabama Agriplex will welcome Alabama butterfly enthusiast, author and self-described “citizen scientist” Paulette Ogard for a presentation this week on butterflies native to Cullman and surrounding counties.

Ogard, a lepidopterist who fell in love with butterflies while growing up in several North Alabama communities, will be at the Agriplex to discuss her work with fellow experts on their most recent butterfly endeavor: the online Alabama Butterfly Atlas, which curates information about butterflies native to the region.

“Our group launched the atlas in April of 2017, and we’ve worked very, very hard to make it a user-friendly experience,” said Ogard. “We hope to encourage other people to become citizen scientists, and to contribute information about what they see in the home counties.

“What’s great about the Atlas is that it’s for people of all ages, from elementary school-aged all the way up to retired folks. It’s free, of course, and it allows people to go online and see exactly which butterflies have been documented in their area.”

Visit the Alabama Butterfly Atlas at alabama.butterflyatlas.usf.edu.

Getting people to show up for her lecture, the second in the Agriplex’s ongoing Gosse Nature Lecture series, shouldn’t be too difficult. There’s just something about butterflies — their accessibility; their beauty; even their benign representation of nature’s milder side — that people instinctively appreciate, Ogard said.

“People just respond to butterflies on a deep, deep level,” she said. “They are such great ambassadors, as it were, for the natural world. It’s hard to find somebody who doesn’t like butterflies. They’re a symbol of resurrection; they’re harbingers of spring, and they don’t do anything harmful at all to people: no bites, no stings.”

Ogard’s lecture begins Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Agriplex. An hour beforehand, the Agriplex will uncover a painting by local artist Jack Tupper at an Italian-themed reception for early lecture guests. Tuesday’s reception, as well as the lecture, are free to attend. Burke’s Florist is donating a floral arrangement as a door prize.

The painting’s been kept closely under wraps, as organizers of this year’s Harvest to Home Fundraiser and Silent Auction hope to promote the April 13 event through events like the unveiling and other ongoing activities attached to the lecture series.