Spring 2018 NCC Magazine

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Hidden in plain TKTKTKTKTKTKT TOP: RACHEL CARO. BOTTOM: THOMAS FRICKE. 8 SPRING 2018 natureconservancy.ca
With perhaps only 500 Poweshiek skipperlings left in the world, the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve is giving this endangered butterfly a chance to survive the odds sight BY Susan Peters, writer and editor TKTKTKTKTKTKT They may be drab-brown and no bigger than a loonie, but Poweshiek skipperlings are rarer than pandas. On a sunny November day, Marika Olynyk checks the temperature above and below the snow at the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, just 80 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg. “Oh, that’s interesting,” she says. “It’s nine degrees warmer under the snow, close to the ground.” The site is home to some of the world’s last Poweshiek skipperlings, an endangered butterfly species currently in diapause — the insect equivalent of hibernation — and protected from the cold under a quilt of snow. “We think they’re near the soil. Some insects go into the soil in winter, but we don’t think the Poweshieks do that.” The “we think” is important. In the entire world, perhaps 500 Poweshiek skipperlings are left, with a significant portion found at the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve. Once a common species, they’ve now become exceedingly rare: 10 per cent of the world’s population may be lying, frozen, a few feet from Olynyk’s weather monitoring station. Over the past 20 years, the population took a sharp, worrisome nosedive. Determining why the butterflies have disappeared, and how they can be recovered, is a team effort that stretches across the Canada–U.S. border, requiring universities, zoos, governments and researchers, including the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), to pool their knowledge, filling in the questions on this understudied species. “That’s the problem with endangered insects: they’re not on anyone’s radar. They’re fascinating if you see them up close, but no one’s going to see them up close,” says Olynyk wryly. She grew up in the country outside of Saskatoon, surrounded by nature — from the toad that came out of the sandy soil to plop onto the family’s deck when it rained, to the prairie cactus she loved showing off to a visiting relative. Passionate about natureconservancy.ca SPRING 2018 9
Page 1 and 2: SPRING 2018 Against the odds The Ma
Page 3 and 4: Contents Nature Conservancy of Cana
Page 5 and 6: SONGBIRDS Restore and care for bird
Page 7: peoples and more recent settlers. N
Page 11 and 12: Helping hands In 2011, scientists w
Page 13 and 14: SIZE AND WEIGHT Weighs up to 16 kil
Page 15 and 16: Partner Spotlight Thank you to our
Page 17 and 18: Spanning the lush, vibrant grasslan
Page 19 and 20: Your passion for Canada’s natural

Spring 2018 NCC Magazine

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