US Puts Bumblebee On the Endangered Species List For First Time (npr.org)

For the first time for a bumblebee and a bee species in the U.S., the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the bumblebee an endangered species. The protected status goes into effect on February 10, and includes requirements for federal protections and the development of a recovery plan. NPR reports: "Today's Endangered Species listing is the best -- and probably last -- hope for the recovery of the rusty patched bumble bee," NRDC Senior Attorney Rebecca Riley said in a statement from the Xerces Society, which advocates for invertebrates. "Bumble bees are dying off, vanishing from our farms, gardens, and parks, where they were once found in great numbers." Large parts of the Eastern and Midwestern United States were once crawling with these bees, Bombus affinis, but the bees have suffered a dramatic decline in the last two decades due to habitat loss and degradation, along with pathogens and pesticides. Indeed, the bee was found in 31 states and Canadian provinces before the mid- to late-1990s, according to the final rule published in the Federal Register. But since 2000, it has been reported in only 13 states and Ontario, Canada. It has seen an 88 percent decline in the number of populations and an 87 percent loss in the amount of territory it inhabits. This means the species is vulnerable to extinction, the rule says, even without further habitat loss or insecticide exposure. Canada designated the species as endangered in 2012.

Comments

Re:thanks Monsanto !

[Mashiki]

WTF have you been smoking?

Reality. What have you been snorting where you don't realize this has been happening? You can be fined for it. That environmentalists push for it. That the favorite blame game is "Monsanto". That the brainchild was the environmentalism of the 70's and 80's, and is such a bad problem that provinces and states now actively encourage planting it. Want to bury your head in the sand? Feel free. The reality is far different, and is probably one of the best examples of environmentalism running amok to the point where it actively damages the environment. Hell if you dig hard through provincial records for example here in Ontario from the 1980's you can find environmental groups actively pushing for the use of broad-spectrum herbicides in order to control particular plant species and stating that the destruction and loss of native species outweighs the bad in controlling others.