CREATING QUITE A BUZZ
Newly endangered rusty patched bee sparks review of road projects
The rusty patched bumblebee — the first bumblebee ever protected under the federal Endangered Species Act — is emerging from hibernation as it struggles to maintain a tenuous toehold on the landscape.
The bee is known to inhabit only 13 states, including spots across southern Wisconsin that include metropolitan Milwaukee and Madison.
But already in two of the states — Illinois and Minnesota — the protected status of the rusty patched bumblebee has slowed road construction projects.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially listed the bee as an endangered species on March 21. The designation triggers a series of protections against knowingly harming the bee or its habitat.
In Illinois, a federal judge halted work on a road project in Kane County, west of Chicago, until at least Tuesday after opponents of the project said the road work could affect the bee.
In the Minneapolis area, a stretch of road work in Hennepin County was delayed last month until the Fish and Wildlife Service inspected the site and concluded the area did not have a high potential to host bees.
Historically, the rusty patched bumblebee was found broadly across the eastern United States and Upper Midwest. But an array of factors, including habitat loss, reduced populations to 13 states in 2000.
Other factors include increased use of pesticides; a loss of crop diversity; and mortality from pathogens and parasites. Also, drought, temperature shifts and extreme rain events brought on by climate change also
could be factors, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Bumblebees of all species are considered important in most ecosystems for their role in plant pollination.
In Wisconsin, there are 14 counties where the bee is known or thought to have populations, although state wildlife officials say some of these spots may not have had recent sightings.
In Milwaukee, the areas include three swaths: One running in the vicinity of I-94 and Miller Park; another in and around Franklin; and another stretching from the lakefront to west of I-94 from St. Francis to South Milwaukee.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has been reviewing projects for the possible effect on the rusty patched bumblebee, according to Rori Paloski, a conservation biologist with the agency.
Five projects were found to have a potential effect and two of those have already been determined to have suitable habitat for the bee, Paloski said. Three others are still pending, in part, because she said the DNR is waiting for federal guidance.
One includes a utility construction project in Dane, Sauk and Columbia counties by American Transmission Co., she said.
After a review process,
Bumblebees of all species are considered important in most ecosystems for their role in plant pollination.
Wisconsin can allow for a limited killing of endangered and threatened species under state incidental take regulations. No project in the state has been held up indefinitely due to an endangered species, Paloski said.
In Wisconsin, the rusty patched bumblebee is listed as a species of special concern, which can include some government protections. But with the new designation, Wisconsin will adopt the stronger federal protections, said Owen Boyle, chief of natural heritage conservation for the DNR.
The agency’s initial announcement came in January — a decision applauded by environmental groups and others who saw it as a recognition of the dramatic population drop of a once ubiquitous species.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum has the most welldocumented populations of the rusty patched bumblebee.
Susan Carpenter, the Arboretum’s native plant gardener, said queen bees that hibernated over the winter are beginning to emerge.
They are very difficult to spot in the early spring. Later, as they produce young, more bees can be seen on flowers and trees in a hunt for nectar and pollen. “We see them grow steadily throughout the season,” Carpenter said.
She was not aware that a rare bee species inhabited the Arboretum until 2011 when nature photographer Clay Bolt of Bozeman, Mont., contacted her.
The bees were discovered then and Carpenter has since developed a bumblebee conservation project that includes plant species that are favorable to bees.
The DNR’s Boyle said it’s probably not a mistake that there are more reports of the bees in areas like Madison and the Twin Cities where there are habitat refuges and “there are more eyes watching them.”