The buzz is off, way off

Yellow jackets? Wasps? You didn't want them anywhere near you. They stung, and their stings hurt. Bumblebees? Not so much of a fear factor. Compared to yellow jackets and wasps, they were sort of, well, bumbling. They weren't as apt to sting and if they did, it tended to be less painful. Or so I've heard.

So, I liked them just fine. Seeing a bumbling bee was like seeing a dragonfly or a butterfly. Lovely to look at (and nothing to be (much) afraid of, unless you were allergic to bee stings).

But if you want to look at a bumblebee of the American bumblebee variety you'll be out of luck if you live in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont, which are among the eight states where they're no longer to be found. Nationwide, the overall American bumblebee population has declined about 90%. They're down by 99% in New York state. With four New England states already plum out of bumblebees, Massachusetts probably isn't far behind.

To date, bumblebees aren't protected federally, or by any states. But with their population down so drastically, they may now be eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act, "which would provide rules and framework for saving the species from extinction." 

We need these babies.

American bumblebees are a vital pollinator for wildflowers and crops, and their decline could have severe consequences for the environment. (Source: Smithsonian Magazine)

A petition for protection was recently filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Bombus Pollinator Association of Law Students (a student group at Albany Law School).

Here's hoping they succeed. (And gotta love that a law school has a Bombus Pollinator Association.)

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

Bumblebees have a lot going against them. Pesticides, loss of habitat, climate change...

Pesticides are especially unkind to American bumblees, and the states with the largest declines bumblebee numbers are those with the largest increase in the use of nasty pesticides. (Not that there are any other kind.)

Pesticides like neonicotinoids harm the bumblebee's natural homing system, disrupt their communication strategies, and weaken their immune systems, reports Live Science. 

If protection is granted at the federal level, "farmers or developers who harm the insects could face up to $13,000 in fines each time one is killed."

This seems like it would be pretty difficult to enforce. A backhoe smooshes a bumblebee? Who's going to know? I suppose if farmers were using harmful pesticides it would be simple enough to track their use. Still, enforcement might be pretty difficult.

But whether the protection works or not, it's worth a try.

Unless you're out communing with nature all the time, you're not likely to miss a species that goes extinct here and there. 

Polar bears? Sure, those pictures of the polar bear mother and child marooned on an ice floe are heartbreaking, but the only polar bears most of us ever see are in zoos. And they'll survive.

Snail darters? Can't remember the last time I ran across one.

Bumblebees? See above. No recall at all. I'm still swatting away an occasional yellow jacket, but I wouldn't have noticed that bumblebees have disappeared.

Not the same way we notice the worsening weather, the unprecedented fires out west, the flood waters drowning folks in their basement apartments in Queens and New Jersey. Not that we do anything about it. But deny all you like, there really is no denying that something's up. And that something is not good.

Maybe when it comes to the demise of American bumblebees, insecticides are the main culprit, not climate change. But bumblebees are just one more canary in the coal mine that we're destroying our natural environment and further diminishing life as we've known it.

The buzz from the American bumblebee is off, way off. And that's not good buzz for anyone.