On a summer day in Michigan, a tiny Poweshiek skipperling butterfly — smaller than a quarter — takes flight over a restored prairie.

To most people, it looks like an ordinary butterfly. But to the researchers watching in the wings, this moment represents something extraordinary. Just a few years ago, scientists feared the Poweshiek skipperling was disappearing forever.

Now, researchers at Michigan State University and their conservation partners have helped pull one of the world's rarest butterflies back from the brink of extinction.

Working alongside many partners including John Ball Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the team transformed one of North America's most vulnerable butterflies into a growing conservation success.

“We were actually able to save that species from extinction,” says David Pavlik, research assistant at MSU's W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and John Ball Zoo, who has spent years helping lead the recovery effort. “We released 102 butterflies in 2022 and more than 1,300 butterflies in 2025.”

Early in the recovery effort, the goal wasn't to create new populations — it was simply to keep the butterfly from disappearing from the last few populations left in Michigan.

Some butterflies are being used to establish new populations, while others are strengthening the few populations that remain. Those releases are already helping wild populations begin to thrive.

Researchers aren't releasing butterflies to prevent extinction anymore — they're releasing them to expand a recovering population.

At one point during the recovery effort, researchers were caring for more Poweshiek skipperlings in captivity than existed in the wild anywhere on Earth.

Once found throughout the Midwest — from Iowa and the Dakotas to Michigan and southern Canada — the Poweshiek skipperling began disappearing with startling speed in the early 2000s. By 2022, researchers documented only nine Poweshiek skipperlings in the entire United States.

The success of the program has expanded beyond the Poweshiek skipperling. Researchers in the Haddad lab at MSU and John Ball Zoo are now raising and reintroducing two additional endangered butterflies — the Mitchell's satyr and the Karner blue — to restore populations across Michigan.

Researchers point to multiple causes behind the declines, including habitat loss, wetland destruction and changing agricultural practices. 

“Less than 1% of the prairie habitat that once existed remains today,” says Pavlik. 

The widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides has also taken a toll — the chemicals can drift beyond their intended targets, harming beneficial insects and reducing biodiversity. 

“We can't ignore the ethical, moral obligation of people not being the cause of extinction of a species,” Haddad says.

The key to the butterfly's survival has been the restoration of these habitats by the Nature Conservancy and other land managers. Most of the world's remaining prairie fens — the butterfly's natural habitat — are found in southern Michigan. 

“Without conservation efforts like this, there wouldn't be these habitats where these species can thrive,” says Pavlik. “Restoring prairie habitat benefits not only Poweshiek skipperlings, but also many other rare species.”

Inside specially designed hoop houses, researchers recreate the hot, humid conditions of Michigan's rare prairie fens, allowing endangered caterpillars to develop before being returned to the wild. Before they are released, each butterfly is briefly anesthetized and marked with a Sharpie so they can be tracked in the future.

“The most exciting thing about this research is starting to see butterflies in the field,” says Flanagan. “In 2022, there were a grand total of nine butterflies found in the U.S. Now we're seeing hundreds of them in these sites.”

Once released, tracking a butterfly this small is its own challenge. Researchers mark some individuals with a small dot of paint before release, a low-tech method that helps them measure survival and see how far a population is spreading between prairie fens.

This research is far from finished. Researchers hope to rebuild enough populations to eventually remove the Poweshiek skipperling from the endangered species list. 

After years of decline, the Poweshiek skipperling has become something increasingly rare in conservation: a success story. 

But researchers say the work is about more than a single butterfly. 

The same prairie habitat supports dozens of other declining insects, birds and plants, and researchers say every successful butterfly release is evidence that an endangered ecosystem is recovering.

“What’s good for Poweshiek is also very good for the entire ecosystem,” says Pavlik.