DETROIT _ At an idyllic, quiet, tranquil patch of fen and prairie in Oakland County's Springfield Township, a tragedy is unfolding.
It's there that Michigan's most endangered species, the Poweshiek skipperling butterfly, flutters away what may be its last days on Earth.
The brownish-orange, thumbnail-sized butterfly, with a wingspan of only an inch or so, once was fairly common on the North American plains. Now, it's precariously close to extinction: Fewer than 200 are known to remain _ in one tiny pocket of the Canadian province of Manitoba, in a solitary area of Wisconsin and the largest remaining number, fewer than 70, in Oakland County, particularly at the Shiawassee Basin Preserve in Springfield Township.
Not long ago, "it was probably the most frequently encountered prairie skipper, a type of butterfly," said Tam Smith, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Minnesota-Wisconsin field office.
"When folks went out doing surveys for butterflies in the Midwest, they would see the Poweshiek skipperling everywhere," she said. "They paid little attention to it because it was so common."
But starting in the early 2000s, surveyors began to notice an abrupt and rapid decline in Poweshiek populations, Smith said.
"We don't really know for sure what happened," she said.
Leading ideas include the loss of the butterfly's very particular habitat _ pristine, never-tilled prairie grasses _ to agricultural development. Unlike Monarch butterflies, which migrate across North America to Mexico each winter, Poweshieks are homebodies, sticking to their particular habitat _ meaning when it's spoiled, they are in trouble.
Other possible stresses include climate changes such as hotter summers and rainier springs, or the introduction of new pesticides or pathogens, Smith said.
Listed as an endangered species in October 2014, federal, state and other researchers are working to learn not only what happened, but what can be done now. The Fish and Wildlife Service collaborates with partners at the Minnesota Zoo in the Twin Cities suburb of Apple Valley to breed Poweshieks in captivity, and reintroduce them to Oakland County and other locations where they still exist. For the first time this summer, two Powesheiks bred in captivity were released in Oakland County.
"That's really exciting for us," Smith said. "We overcame a lot of obstacles to get to where we're at right now."
Other projects, focused on preserving and improving existing habitat, and attempting to restore lost habitat, are also ongoing, Smith said.
