By Abbas Nazil
The Center for Food Safety has announced its intention to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for failing to act on a petition to list the Iowa skipper butterfly as an endangered species.
The nonprofit organization first petitioned the federal agency in March 2023, but after repeated delays and missed deadlines, it filed a new notice of intent to sue on October 8, 2025.
The group alleges that the USFWS violated the Endangered Species Act by not issuing its required 12-month finding to determine whether the butterfly qualifies for federal protection.
According to the Center, the Iowa skipper — a small, bright yellow and orange butterfly — has suffered from severe habitat loss due to agricultural expansion, pesticide use, climate change, and invasive species.
Once widespread across prairies in the central United States, the butterfly has not been observed in Iowa since 2009.
Today, it is mostly found in small, protected prairie areas in states like Nebraska, Colorado, and Oklahoma.
Legal counsel for the Center, Suzannah Smith, said listing the species as endangered would help preserve its habitat and safeguard other pollinators that depend on the same ecosystem.
She emphasized that the butterfly serves as an indicator of healthy prairie environments and called its decline a warning for broader ecological degradation.
The group said designating the Iowa skipper’s habitat as critical would protect it from harmful human activities, including pesticide spraying and land development.
Smith noted that even controlled burns, often used to manage prairie lands, could harm the species, suggesting that endangered status would require new management practices.
The Iowa skipper faces similar threats as other endangered pollinators such as the Dakota skipper, Poweshiek skipperling, and rusty patched bumblebee.
USFWS officials have not commented on the pending legal action due to the ongoing federal government shutdown that has furloughed many employees.
The Center for Food Safety warned that if the agency fails to act within 60 days or establish a timeline, it will proceed with its lawsuit.
The organization, known for campaigns against industrial agriculture, pesticides, and habitat destruction, said protecting the Iowa skipper is part of a broader fight to ensure that food production sustains both people and the planet.
