The Trump administration is delaying listing this bumblebee species as endangered

The Trump administration has delayed the endangered designation for a bee species in the US – a day before it was to take effect. <br /> <br />The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced in a Federal Register notice it has delayed a move to protect the rusty patched bumblebee, in keeping with US President Donald Trump’s executive order that was issued in January. <br /> <br />Had the delay not happened, it would have, for the first time in the history of the continental United States, placed a species of bumblebee under federal protection. <br /> <br />The service announced a postponement until March 21. <br /> <br /> <br />The Trump administration is delaying listing this bumblebee species as endangered <br /> <br />SNAPPA News SNAPPA News11 February 2017 <br /> <br />The Trump administration has delayed the endangered designation for a bee species in the US – a day before it was to take effect. <br /> <br />The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced in a Federal Register notice it has delayed a move to protect the rusty patched bumblebee, in keeping with US President Donald Trump’s executive order that was issued in January. <br /> <br />Had the delay not happened, it would have, for the first time in the history of the continental United States, placed a species of bumblebee under federal protection. <br /> <br />The service announced a postponement until March 21. <br /> <br />Rusty patched bumblebee. <br />(USGS/ Flickr) <br />More <br />Federal law requires a 30-day waiting period before most new regulations become effective. <br /> <br />But the service imposed a 60-day freeze on regulations that had been published in the register but hadn’t taken effect. <br /> <br />The delay, according to the White House, was for the purpose of “reviewing questions of fact, law and policy they raise”. <br /> <br />Fish and Wildlife assistant director Gary Frazer said the move was not expected to impact conservation efforts. <br />He said the federal agency “is developing a recovery plan to guide efforts to bring this species back to a healthy and secure condition”. <br /> <br />The rusty patched bumblebee has disappeared from about 90% of its range in the past 20 years. <br /> <br />Scientists say disease, pesticide exposure, habitat loss and climate change are among possible causes. <br /> <br />It’s among a number of bee species that have suffered steep population declines – along with monarch butterflies, another key pollinator.