American Bumblebee Buzzes Toward Protection

In response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that the American bumblebee — a once-common pollinator whose populations have plummeted by nearly 90% in 20 years — may warrant Endangered Species Act protection. The announcement kicks off a year-long review of the species’ status.

“This is an important first step in preventing the extinction of this fuzzy black-and-yellow beauty that was once a familiar sight,” said Jess Tyler, a Center scientist. “To survive unchecked threats of disease, habitat loss and pesticide poisoning, American bumblebees need the full protection of the Endangered Species Act right now.”

Help us save these bees and other species with a gift to our Saving Life on Earth Fund.

Suit Filed Over Deadly Pesticide Paraquat

Paraquat is banned in 32 countries, including the European Union and China. But in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency just greenlit the pesticide for another 15 years. It’s been linked to Parkinson’s disease and other long-term harms to human health.

So along with farmworker and health allies, the Center sued the EPA on Friday for approving the continued use of this deadly pesticide.

“The Biden EPA’s decision to reapprove widespread use, including aerial spraying, of this highly lethal pesticide, is shocking,” said Nathan Donley, the Center’s environmental health science director. “Much of the rest of the world has banned this dangerous poison, but thanks to our rubber-stamp pesticide-approval process, its use will continue to increase in the United States.”

Revelator: How Can Species Survive Climate Change?

In his new book Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change, Thor Hanson explains why some species may be better able to survive a quickly changing planet — and why many others will struggle.

Learn more about the biology behind climate change and, if you haven’t already, sign up for The Revelator’s weekly e-newsletter.

Biodiversity Hotspot Saved From Off-Road Ruin

Thanks to years of work by the Center and allies, one of California’s most important wildlife corridors will not become an epicenter of off-road-vehicle destruction. After a lawsuit we filed with a coalition of community and conservation groups, this month the state passed a bill that will stop an off-road vehicle site from expanding into the beautiful, biodiverse Tesla Park — where it would have torn up habitat for imperiled species like California red-legged frogs and San Joaquin kit foxes.

“This bill stops a barren playground for polluting vehicles from taking over 3,100 acres of oak woodlands and grasslands teeming with wildlife,” said attorney Aruna Prabhala, director of the Center’s Urban Wildlands program. “It’s a major victory for Northern California’s disappearing wild spaces.”

23 Species From 19 States Lost to Extinction

The Fish and Wildlife Service just proposed to remove 22 animals and one plant from the endangered species list because they’re presumed extinct: the ivory-billed woodpecker, Bachman’s warbler, Scioto madtom, San Marcos gambusia, eight species of Southeastern freshwater mussels, eight birds and a flower from Hawaiʻi, and a bird and bat from Guam.

The Endangered Species Act has prevented the extinction of 99% of the plants and animals under its care, but sadly these 23 species were already extinct, or very close to it, when they were listed. The Center supports two bills moving through Congress that would increase protection and funding for endangered species — which could’ve helped save these species.

“The tragedy will be magnified if we don’t keep this from happening again by fully funding species protection and recovery efforts that move quickly,” said the Center’s Tierra Curry. “Extinction is not inevitable. It’s a political choice. Saving species isn’t rocket science. As a country we need to stand up and say we aren’t going to lose any more species to extinction.”

In Memoriam: Grizzly Protector Don Shoulderblade

On Sunday the grizzly bear lost a great protector: Don Shoulderblade, Northern Cheyenne Sun Dance Priest and Keeper of the Sacred Buffalo Hat.

Shoulderblade founded GOAL, Guardians of Our Ancestors’ Legacy, in 2013 to stop the stripping of Endangered Species Act protection from grizzly bears, who are sacred relatives of the Cheyenne and other peoples. He and his nephew Rain Bear Stands Last unified more than 200 tribal nations in The Grizzly: A Treaty of Cooperation, Cultural Revitalization and Restoration and inspired legal victories in 2018 and 2020 overturning the removal of federal protections.

“It is impossible to articulate in a sound bite the spiritual significance of the grizzly in our culture,” said Shoulderblade. “The grizzly is sacred, an ancient spirit, a great healer and teacher. The grizzly is integral to our traditional spiritual lifeway. We will not stand by in the land of our ancestors and watch grizzlies be blown apart by high-powered rifles and mutilated just to satiate the bloodlust of some rich ‘great white hunter.’”

In 2017 Shoulderblade brought together more than 80 tribal nations from Canada and the United States in ceremony to develop a “Reclamation of Independence and Declaration Opposing Oil Sands Expansion and the Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.”

“Every time I met Don, I came away inspired and empowered,” said the Center's Executive Director Kierán Suckling. “He will be deeply missed.”

This Woman Swam 108 Rivers in One Summer

In her annual quest to swim more rivers than any of her river-swimming friends, this summer Center scientist Tierra Curry visited no fewer than 108 waterways — across eight states.

But the water was rarely clear. “Picking my way through mud, past discarded fishing lines, food wrappers and Covid-19 masks, I realized how much America’s rivers need protection not just from pollution but also from everyday insults,” writes Tierra, who leads our Saving Life on Earth program.

Read or listen to her story at The Washington Post.

Vanishing: A 1,500-Mile Search for a Lost Bird

Writer and science teacher Daniel Hudon traveled 1,500 miles by train, car and boat to a remote Newfoundland island that was once home to great auks, a gentle diving bird that went extinct in the 1800s at the hands of humans.

In our latest Vanishing essay, Hudon pays tribute to these lost birds. He notes that grief over their disappearance should also serve as a reminder to hold on to what remains.

Read the essay and the others in the Vanishing series examining the human toll of wildlife losses.

That’s Wild: Extreme Bee Diversity in the Desert

The Chihuahuan desert — or any desert, really — may not be the first place you’d think of as Bee Central.

But a recent study of 6 square miles in the arid San Bernardino Valley, near the U.S.-Mexico border, has led to an amazing discovery. The density of bee species there “exceeds any other site in the world” and amounts to about 14% of all known U.S. bee species. Coauthor Bob Minckley found a whopping 497 bee species living in the tiny study area in Arizona.

The study concludes that “bee diversity peaks in the xeric (low moisture) areas of the eastern and western hemispheres and not the tropics.”