The Obama administration has granted endangered-species protection to the rusty-patched bumblebee — the first bumblebee in the United States, and the first bee of any kind in the lower 48 states to get the designation, says The New York Times. Seven other bees are listed, but they are all from Hawaii.
The bee, which will receive extra protection through the Fish & Wildlife Service, has experienced a 90-percent drop in population since the late 1990s. Federal wildlife officials blame habitat loss, climate change, pesticides and the spread of pathogens. The designation means that the Fish & Wildlife Service will develop a recovery plan, which will be enacted by other agencies, especially around land-use planning. The plan will likely also impact the use of controversial pesticides like neonicotinoids, which have been implicated in the collapse of bee populations.
“Federal wildlife officials noted that the process of listing a species as endangered can take years, sometimes even decades,” says the Times. “More than 300 species have been listed during the Obama administration, second only to the more than 500 species listed under President Bill Clinton. During the George W. Bush administration, just 62 species were added to the list.”
If the Trump administration tries to reverse the designation, it will have to go through the long and involved process of proving, on scientific grounds, that the bumblebee doesn’t warrant endangered status.