SierraScape April - August 2017
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In January 2017 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed the rusty patched bumblebee as endangered. The rusty patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis) is the first bumblebee in the continental United States to be listed. It is native to the eastern US, upper Midwest and in Ontario.

Missouri is not listed as a key part of its native range, but Illinois is. No doubt some rusty patched bumblebees once made their home in eastern Missouri.

While the rusty patched was listed in January, the agency had already listed seven bees in the Hawaiian Islands as endangered in 2016. These listings are a reflection of the overall threats to pollinators across the globe. Pollinators include bees, butterflies, birds and insects. About 75% of the world's food crops depend at least partly on pollinators.

The decline of the rusty patched bumblebee can be traced to habitat loss, pesticide use and pathogens. The bee has been in noticeable decline since the 1990s. Canada listed it in 2012.

Official action to save the bee will include better surveying and habitat protection. But there are steps we can take to help pollinators too. If you have a yard, no matter how small, plant native flowering shrubs, trees and flowers which will assist all types of pollinators. Rusty patched bumblebees like early flowering shrubs, like ninebark, and later flowering gems like coneflowers.