SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Today, in response to a 2023 petition by Center for Food Safety, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that Endangered Species Act (ESA or "the Act") protections may be warranted for the imperiled Iowa skipper butterfly. In accordance with the ESA, the agency will now conduct a one-year status review of the butterfly. At the end of that review, FWS must either propose protection for the Iowa skipper under the Act, reject protection under the Act, or add the butterfly to the candidate waiting list for protection.

The Iowa skipper, a bright yellow-orange butterfly, is being driven to the brink of extinction due largely to the disastrous impacts of industrial agriculture. The growing use of toxic pesticides accompanying the rampant destruction of the skipper's grassland habitat, primarily for intensive row crop farming, pose the most significant threats to its survival.

"Prairie-specialist butterflies like the Iowa skipper have struggled to survive in small patches of prairie habitat otherwise overtaken by industrial monoculture and its accompanying pesticide use," said Sylvia Wu, co-executive director for petitioner Center for Food Safety, "Protecting the Iowa skipper is also paramount to the health of the nation's remaining grassland habitat, and the other sensitive species that depend on it. We applaud the Fish and Wildlife Service for taking the vital first step today to protect the Iowa skipper."     

The Iowa skipper is considered to be an indicator of a thriving prairie habitat. Its presence frequently signifies a grassland ecosystem is healthy and vibrant. As much as 99 percent of the U.S.'s 148 million acres of tallgrass prairie habitat has been destroyed. Recent habitat losses stem from biofuel demand driven by federal policies that promote fuel made from corn, high crop prices, and government subsidies. New technologies are also making habitat conversion easier, allowing corn and soybeans to be grown across a wider range of climates, spreading more harmful synthetic pesticides.

Industrial agriculture's spraying of these toxic pesticides is contributing to the decline of the Iowa skipper due to these chemicals' direct harm to the butterfly and its surrounding habitat. The skipper's survival is also threatened by climate change, invasive species, and the vulnerability of its small, isolated colonies.

Center for Food Safety's initial ESA "listing" petition for the Iowa skipper, supported by more than 250 scientific sources, was the second legal filing for their extinction crisis program: in the first, FWS determined that ESA protections were warranted for Monarch butterflies.