Trump Administration Delays Listing Bumblebee as Endangered
A bumblebee collects pollen from a cherry blossom in a garden outside Moscow on May 31, 2015.
Photographer: Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Traverse City, Mich. (AP) -- The Trump administration on Thursday delayed what would be the first endangered designation for a bee species in the continental U.S., one day before it was to take effect.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service adopted a rule Jan. 11 extending federal protection to the rusty patched bumblebee, one of many types of bees that play a vital role in pollinating crops and wild plants. It once was common across the East Coast and much of the Midwest, but its numbers have plummeted since the late 1990s.