Endangered species protection sought for threatened Northwest bumble bee
June 23,2010
by Jason Houk, Medford City Buzz Examiner
Franklin's bumble bee by Peter Schroeder.
A conservation group wants to add a Northwest bumblebee to the endangered species list. Franklin’s bumblebee, once endemic to southern Oregon and northern California is now threatened with possible extinction.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and Dr. Robbin Thorp, entomologist with the University of California at Davis filed a petition on Wednesday with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting protection for Franklin’s bumble bee under the Endangered Species Act.
“It is vital that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Act quickly to protect this bumble bee,” said Sarina Jepsen, Endangered Species Program Director at The Xerces Society. “We hope that an Endangered Species Act listing will encourage the USDA-APHIS to protect wild bumble bees from future threats posed by nonnative, commercial bumble bees.”
In the U.S., bees are responsible for pollinating up to one-third of the food supply, worth $3 billion annually, yet they have been dying off in alarming numbers for almost two decades. According to a recent press release, a twelve year of survey conducted by Thorp clearly show that this species has declined steadily. The decline has been so severe that only a single Franklin’s bumble bee was observed in 2006 and none since.
“Over the last 12 years I have watched the populations of this bumble bee decline precipitously,” said Dr. Robbin Thorp, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis. “My hope is this species can recover before it is too late.”
“The decline in Franklin’s bumble bee should serve as an alarm that we are starting to lose important pollinators,” said Scott Hoffman Black, Executive Director of The Xerces Society. “We hope that Franklin’s bumble bee will remind us to prevent pollinators across the U.S. from sliding toward extinction.”
Read article in the Medford City Buzz Examiner.
June 24th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
The wild bumble bees are plentiful this year in my garden. I’ve never seen so many before. I discovered they had taken up residence in an empty blue bird house. I would like to see pictures of the different kind of bees. I didn’t realize there were so many kinds. Southwest Missouri, Ozarks area. Thanks
June 24th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I live in southern oregon There are many bees in my garden. Especially
the big black bumble bee. they like the ground cover plants with bright yellow
flowers.
I have noticed that the regular honey bees are not as many as used to be.
Thanks
July 3rd, 2010 at 12:26 am
I live in White City and there are at last count, about 8 different types that I have seen regularly around here, including the big black (Franklin) bee which is very numerous. We planted a large amount of flowering plants, including honeysuckle which the Franklins seem to love. At any one day, I can normally find 10-15 buzzing around collecting pollen. I counted at least 6 different types on the blackberry bushes in our backyard.
We are trying to find out where they hive (above ground/below ground) so we don’t destroy their habitat or hive. Does anyone know? please feel free to email us at: chrisbcritter
charter
net.
July 11th, 2010 at 8:12 am
We live in north Clark County WA were we have had numerous large black bumble bees for years on end but they aren’t around this year. In fact my Lavendar plant blooms are bare of any kind of bees. It seems quite unnatural to see so many brightly colored blooms but no bees. In early spring we had some brown bumble bees that I had never seen before but they left some time ago. Can anyone explain any of this?