WildEarth Guardians

Friday, October 24, 2014
Two Rare Prairie Butterflies Given Protections to Escape Extinction

Poweshiek skipperling and Dakota skipper protected under the Endangered Species Act
Contact: Taylor Jones (720) 443-2615

Washington, DC— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) protected two imperiled prairie butterflies—the Poweshiek skipperling and the Dakota skipper—under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) today, giving them a fighting chance to escape extinction. Though the prairie is the most iconic landscape of the Great Plains region, 85 to 99.9 percent of the native prairie ecosystems in the historical range of both butterflies have disappeared. The butterflies depend on the diverse plants and flowers of undisturbed prairie, and cannot survive where prairie is converted to agricultural fields, energy development sites, mines, or housing developments.

“By protecting these butterflies, we can protect whole and healthy prairies for our children and grandchildren to enjoy and stop this once-vast landscape from winking out,” said Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians.

Once one of the most abundant native prairie species across eight states, the Poweshiek skipperling vanished from 96 percent of its known range and is now found only in Minnesota, the Dakotas, and parts of Canada. The Service listed it as “endangered” under the ESA due to its rapid and continuing decline. The Dakota skipper has disappeared from two of the five states it once called home and is currently found in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Manitoba, Canada. The Service listed it as “threatened” under the ESA, with a special rule that exempts certain activities—including grazing on non-federal lands—from the requirements of the law. Both butterflies are threatened by continuing loss of prairie habitat, invasive plant species that drive out their food plants, and the small size and isolation of remaining populations, which makes them vulnerable to inbreeding and chance events such as wildfire.

Protection under the ESA is an effective safety net for imperiled species: more than 99 percent of plants and animals protected by the law exist today. The law is especially important as a defense against the current extinction crisis; plants and animals are disappearing at a rate much higher than the natural rate of extinction due to human activities. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinct if not for ESA protections.