Bumble bee is proposed for U.S. endangered species status
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/09/22/world/science-health-world/bumble-bee-proposed-u-s-endangered-species-status/#.V-P-Zq1Rn3B
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday proposed listing the rusty patched bumble bee, a prized but vanishing pollinator once widely found in the upper Midwest and Northeastern United States, for federal protection as an endangered species.
One of several wild bee species seen declining over the past two decades, the rusty patched bumble bee is the first in the continental United States formally proposed for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Jepsen said protections proposed for the rusty patched bumble bee will intensify the debate over the degree to which so-called neonicotinoid pesticides, routinely used in agriculture and applied to plants and trees in gardens and parks, have contributed to the decline of native bees.
Bumble bees annual economic value to farms is estimated at $3.5 billion, according to experts.
I admit I haven't seen many bumblebees this summer