Assiniboine Park Conservancy gets international recognition for work saving endangered butterfly

The Assiniboine Park Conservancy has been given top honours in the 2025 North American Conservation Award for their collaborative work with two American zoos in bringing back the endangered Poweshiek skippering butterfly.

The program works by breeding the butterflies, and when eggs hatch, the larvae are placed in these containment devices (with visuals) on blades of grass. By next summer, they’ll be full-grown butterflies, ready to be released.

“So in our first year, we had a permit to collect four females. So we collect them, they lay eggs, then we care for those eggs. After winter, we release them back into the wild, and then the next year we released six, I think in our first year, such a small number, and then every year after that we’ve been growing the program,” said Stephen Petersen, the director of conservation and research at the Assiniboine Park Conservancy.

The Minnesota Zoo first started the program in 2012. When Assiniboine joined in 2016, there were just 200 or so of the butterflies worldwide; today, there are over 400 in the wild in Manitoba alone, with plenty more set to be released next summer.

“This year we’ve had our best breading success in the zoo, and we’re looking to release about 400 next year, fingers crossed. We have about 600-700 that are in our care right now,” said Petersen.

“To see that recognized internationally is really great not only for myself but for our team, and for our partners.”

The John Ball Zoo in Michigan was the third to join the program in 2021. Conservation Manager Bill Flanagan says in addition to the number of Poweshiek skipperlings in Manitoba, there are about 4,000 more between the two American zoos.

“It’s really gratifying and it kind of lets us know that we’re really on the right track with the species,” said Flanagan.

“A lot of the success we had came from the success of Minnesota and Assiniboine had.  They were working with them before we were, so a lot of the things that work well here came directly from our conversations with them, so it’s always been a very collaborative program.”

Petersen adding, “We often think of zoos as a place to see animals and have a great time with family, but behind the scenes, we have really important work that’s saving species in the province and across the world.”