Big news for butterfly conservation! The Minnesota Zoo, John Ball Zoo, and Assiniboine Park & Zoo have been awarded the prestigious 2025 North American Conservation Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for their work to save the critically endangered Poweshiek skipperling butterfly.

This award recognizes a powerful partnership that is bringing the Poweshiek skipperling back from the edge of extinction. Minnesota Zoo conservation scientists Dr. Erik Runquist and Cale Nordmeyer contribute their leadership and scientific innovation to this partnership between three zoos.

“The world would be a smaller, lonelier place without this amazing little butterfly. We seem to have
narrowly averted extinction, but the big gains that we have made to help ensure a brighter future for
Poweshiek skipperling could not have happened in a vacuum. We are proud to work alongside John
Ball Zoo and Assiniboine Park Conservancy and dozens of other incredible partners.”
— Dr. Erik Runquist, Conservation Research Scientist, Minnesota Zoo

The Poweshiek skipperling was once found across central U.S. and Canadian tallgrass prairies but has severely declined due to habitat loss. The last sighting in Minnesota was in 2007.

But thanks to groundbreaking breeding protocols at these three zoos, thousands of Poweshieks are being released to stabilize wild populations. The partnership conducted the first-ever reintroductions in both the U.S. and Canada and is pioneering research to tackle key threats to the species.

A zoo-reared Poweshiek butterfly is released in the Assiniboine Park Conservancy in Manitoba, Canada.

In just over a decade, the population has grown from about 250 Poweshieks in zoos to over 1,500 butterflies ready for release in 2025. With every egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly – and the power of zoo partners – hope is growing for the Poweshiek skipperling.