Keep an Eye Out for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee
Rusty Patched Bumble Bee on Wild Bergamot, by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region
By Alyssa Ford
There are 46 species of native North American bumble bees, and all of them are under pressure from human endeavors: intensive farming, use of agrochemicals, loss of habitat and bee diseases introduced by commercial greenhouse operations. One native American bumble bee, the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee (RPBB), is on the cusp of extinction and is of particular concern to conservationists. This fuzzy pollinator previously spanned 27 U.S. states and parts of Canada. It lives its one-year lifecycle feasting on wildflower pollen, and pollinating important crops such as cranberries, plum, alfalfa and onion seed. But since the 1990s, entomologists have noticed a dramatic decline in the population of the RPBB. Invertebrate zoologists now think the bee is present in only 0.1 percent of its historic range and has dropped in actual number of individuals by 87 percent.
In 2013, scientists with the Xerces Society petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to name the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Four years later, the bee was finally listed as federally endangered, the first bumble bee so designated in the lower 48 states. (Six species of native Hawaiian yellow-faced bumble bees were previously listed.) The Rusty Patched Bumble Bee is also listed Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and as Endangered by the Canadian Species at Risk Act. The state of Minnesota, one of the few places where Rusty Patched Bumble Bees have been seen in the wild since 2000, made the RPBB its state bee in 2017.
Adding the RPBB to critically endangered lists is crucially important because it allows conservationist groups to sue developers and government entities on behalf of animals who cannot speak for themselves. For example, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the city of Minnetonka, Minnesota, over plans to build a multi-use bike trail where pollinator expert Heather Holm spotted the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee in the summer of 2016. A September 2020 agreement worked out between the two sides led the city of Minnetonka to promise that one acre of grass turf would be converted to pollinator habitat, that $20,000 would be earmarked for creating and improving bee habitat in the city, and that pesticide use would be limited on city property. A residents’ group, Friends of Lone Lake Park, also committed volunteer time to create and restore bee habitat near the new bike trail.
The Xerces Society counts on individual people to help the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee. In addition to removing lawn in favor of bee-friendly habitat, the society is asking people to stay on the lookout for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee and upload photos at bumblebeewatch.org. Specific sightings of the bee can serve as important evidence in local cases such as the Lone Lake Park lawsuit.
To help identify the RPB from other similar-looking bumble bees, see this guide produced by the University of Minnesota Bee Lab: beelab.umn.edu/rusty-patched-bumble-bee. To watch a high-quality short film about one wildlife photographer’s quest to find the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, see A Ghost in the Making: Searching for the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, available in full at rustypatched.com.
One way you can help Rusty Patched Bumble Bee monitoring efforts in Minnesota is by taking a class and adopting a survey grid for the Minnesota Bumble Bee Atlas. Also, you can join the national Backyard Bumble Bee Count July 23-Aug. 1.
Looking to make your yard friendly to the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee (and other pollinators)? See this list of plants created by Blue Thumb – Planting for Clean Water, and pay special attention to the “pollinator superfoods.”
Seeking a middle school lesson about the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee? See “Why Are the Rusty Patched Bumble Bees Disappearing?,” which was created by the National Science Teachers Association.
Writer Alyssa Ford is a pollinator-supporting Minneapolis resident who has converted her lawn to pollinator habitat. She’s looking forward to her first Rusty Patched Bumble Bee sighting.