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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.
Meanwhile my Dad is outside with his roundup backpack, spraying a big circle around the house...Chemical warfare against nature just isn't working out how we thought it might!
If you want information including things that you might be able to do take a look at Bumble Bee Watch (http://www.bumblebeewatch.org/) or the Xerces Society page on bumblebees (http://www.xerces.org/bumblebees/). The University of Maine in Farmington has also been tracking the decline of several of the species native to Maine (http://mainebumblebeeatlas.umf.maine.edu/), and other state universities may have similar programs going on.
fencepost
just a little off
Things like "noxious weed acts" which destroy plants that support bumblebee populations. Pushed by environmentalists in big cities to get rid of flowering plants which cause allergies. That in turn allowed herbicide spraying to kill or keep them under control. That leads to widespread destruction of flowering areas for the sake of green grass/reduce air allergens. Need another example? Monarch butterflies. Mass population decline, what's the strong correlation? Same noxious weed acts which banned/required destruction of milkweed. Most places have rescinded that. But it wasn't more then a year or two ago in most of north america you could be fined for having it growing on your property because it was considered a weed..
WTF have you been smoking? Envrionmentalists don't push noxious weed acts or anything that sacrifices plants for reduced air allergens. Most of North America you could be fined for having milkweed growing on your property? I've lived in four states and 9 houses in my time, and I've never lived in one of your alleged exclusion zones.
.So the solution to the problem would be to put neonics on the endangered-species list, and hope they fade out of the environment before the bees do.
Then the pesticide industry will lobby the Republicans saying how it'll hurt business and jobs and profits. Eventually, there will be some sort of phase out agreed to that will take ten years for the pesticides to be stopped.
In the meantime, there will be this PR blitz stating that the science isn't in and that the scientists who study it are saying the pesticides are killing bees because that's the only way they can get grants.
Eventually, as our bees get destroyed and the skyrocketing of food prices, the EPA will be blamed for all the unnecessary regulations that caused the problem in the first place.
Cigarette smoking, Air conditioning refrigerant, lead in gasoline are just a couple of instances off of the top of my head where business has put profits above human health. What a warped society we have where it's considered a valid argument to put corporate profits above human health.
Even worse, when a Federal Agent overhears your kid singing about brining home a baby bumble bee at preschool and throws him or her into jail.
I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
That environmentalists push for it.
You certainly have a point that many cities have created environmental problems by banning "natural" and "native" plants.
On the other hand, it's interesting that the sentence I quoted ("The environmentalists push for it") is one with no citation. You seem to be from Canada; I'm not as familiar with environmental politics there. But the U.S. at least, weed ordinances in cities are hardly pushed by environmentalists as that term is commonly understood in the U.S. The laws may be pushed by local busybodies worried about their neighbor who doesn't keep a monoculture lawn precisely mowed and instead chooses to let wildflowers and such grow more freely -- which some people consider "unkempt." Those people may be concerned about their neighborhood "environment" in the sense that they believe that some mid-20th century suburban ideal of the well-kept lawn is the only possible plantlife that should be seen in the city. But I really doubt anyone calls them "environmentalists" except ironically.
To be fair, they would have to sing "bringing home a baby rusty patched bumblebee..."
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
Bumble bees disappearing is alarming, and it could have a number of causes but no one is quite yet sure exactly what is the main cause or if several causes are combining (likely). I've been to several research presentations lately from scientists researching bee health and bee loss. They know that neonics kill bees (they kill lots of insects). But the thing you have to realize is that very few farmers apply neonics as a spray where it kills indiscriminately. Almost all neonic use is in seed treatments that go underground and make the plants toxic to insects that would eat them. Also, bees (but not bumblebees) are doing quite well in areas that have high use of neonic seed treatments, like Alberta.
In other areas the situation is not nearly as good for many bee species. And neonics are suspected to play a role, though neonics are usually not sprayed. What it could be is vacuum planters planting corn and beans are blowing neonic-laced dust into the air which is causing the damage. In Alberta, planting is largely done with air seeders which blow dust into the soil, not the air, where bees are not exposed nearly as much to it.
So things aren't as simple as the comments so far want to make it. Banning of neonic spray does make some sense. But if they were banned outright, to save the food crops farmers will have to spray more insecticides on the plants during the early growth stages, which is ultimately more harmful to everyone. Not only does that kill problem insects, it kills bumble bees and beneficials indiscriminately.
One final comment on habitat loss. This indeed could be contributing. As far as farmland goes, though, very little land is being converted from wild to farming in North America these days. Nearly all habitat loss comes from urban development. So don't go blaming farmers for habitat loss in that regard. As well, the US and Canada has quite large wilderness areas that have never been touched by agriculture, and bumble bees seem to be in decline everywhere. And it could be that climate change is playing as big a role as neonics ever did in this decline.
It's a complicated story. Likely humans play a major role, but how to fix this no on really knows.