[Pollinator] Protecting bumble bees under the California Endangered Species Act

[Matthew Shepherd]

Good morning:

Today the Xerces Society, working with Defenders of Wildlife and the Center
for Food Safety, has submitted a petition to the California Fish and Game
Commission for the listing of four species of native bumble bees under the
California Endangered Species Act. The four species are the western bumble
bee, Franklin’s bumble bee, Crotch’s bumble bee, and the Suckley cuckoo
bumble bee.



You can read more about these bees and see photos—Crotch’s bumble bee is
such a beautiful insect!—on our blog or in the press release, at the
following links:

Blog https://xerces.org/2018/10/16/blog-california-endangered-bumble-bees/

Press release
https://xerces.org/2018/10/16/california-endangered-bumble-bees/



All four of these bumble bees are facing an uncertain future. Crotch’s
bumble has been lost from 80% of its historic range—it is now is found
primarily in southern coastal habitats and areas near Sacramento—and has
declined by 98 percent in relative abundance. The western bumble bee is now
restricted in California to a few sites in the Sierra Nevada and the
northern coast. The Suckley cuckoo bumble bee is probably faring even worse
because it relies on species such as the western as a host, so you can
imagine what the loss of the western bumble bee means for it. And sadly, it
may already be too late for Franklin’s bumble bee; it hasn’t been seen in
more than a decade.



If this petition is successful, it would be the first time any bumble bees
have gained either state or federal protection in the West Coast states.



Matthew





----------

Matthew Shepherd

Director of Communications & Outreach



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Protecting the Life That Sustains Us



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matthew.shepherd at xerces.org
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