Who to Contact About the SLS 2026 Meeting Venue or Volunteering

Updated

For venue questions about the Southern Lepidopterists' Society (SLS) 2026 annual meeting, the site contact named in the announcement is Ms. Jamie Bass at Cuscowilla Nature and Retreat Center — phone (352) 574-2372 (the announcement lists an email address that is masked on the page, so use the phone number or request the address through the society). For volunteering, there is no single named coordinator yet: the meeting co-chairs, John (JFD) and Marc (MCM), say a volunteer sign-up sheet will circulate in winter 2026 listing specific tasks. Until then, raise offers of help with either co-chair.

Venue contact: Jamie Bass at Cuscowilla

The announcement identifies Jamie Bass as "our 2026 contact person at Cuscowilla." Use this contact for questions tied to the site itself — the retreat center is at Micanopy, about 10 miles south of Gainesville, Florida, and the meeting runs Friday to Sunday, 17–19 April 2026.

Practical points the announcement attaches to the venue:

  • Blacklighting and moth-collecting are welcomed every night of the meeting.
  • The new moon falls on April 16–17, which the organizers flag as favorable for collecting.
  • Vaughn Shirey of the McGuire Center (MGCL) will help with communal light sheets.

If your question is about collecting setup or the light sheets rather than the facility, Vaughn Shirey is the person named for that role; Jamie Bass remains the site contact.

Volunteering: watch for the winter sign-up sheet

The co-chairs describe the volunteer process directly: "This winter, we will circulate a volunteer sign-up sheet, seeking help in accomplishing specific tasks." That means the concrete list of jobs does not exist publicly yet — the announcement only commits to publishing it.

Two names are already attached to money and supplies, which is useful if your offer of help involves purchases:

Role Person What the announcement says
Single payer for larger anticipated expenses (via ATL checks) Keith Willmott Has offered to act as the "single payer"
Tracking incidental volunteer expenses (e.g., veggie trays, misc. supplies) Jeff Slotten Will keep track of SLS and ATL volunteers' incidental expenses

So if you plan to buy supplies for the meeting, Jeff Slotten is the named point for incidental expense tracking, and Keith Willmott handles larger expenses paid by ATL check. Neither is described as a general volunteer coordinator.

Why the meeting is at a new venue

The McGuire Center is temporarily closed for renovations, so the usual combined SLS and ATL meeting moved off-campus to Cuscowilla. The announcement frames this as an "unusual new opportunity" and notes that the lepidopteran fauna of Cuscowilla was the subject of a 2025 study by several SLS-ATL specialists, published by David Fine and Montana Atwater in the August 2025 issue of Southern Lepidopterists' News. The co-chairs also thank Debbie Matthews, who arranged the details of past joint meetings and is handing over the reins.

Deadlines and logistics to keep in mind

  • Registration due date: March 21, 2026. The announcement provides a downloadable registration form and a call for papers, and says payment can also be made on the TLS site.
  • Meeting dates: April 17–19, 2026, at Cuscowilla Nature and Retreat Center, Micanopy, Florida.
  • Scientific talks are scheduled for Friday afternoon (optional) and Saturday morning and afternoon.

If your question concerns registration or payment rather than the venue or volunteering, the registration form and the TLS payment link in the announcement are the direct routes; the co-chairs are the fallback for anything the form does not cover.