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Inside THIS ISSUE
• Saying Thanks This Mother’s Day
• The Best Things to Buy (and Not Buy) in May
• May Testimonial
• Get Outside Your Box
• Easiest Chickpea Curry
• Save the Bees
Populations Are Decreasing, But You Can Help! Save the Bees
Spring is officially here. The grass is green again, trees have regrown their leaves, and flowers are emerging from the earth. Busy bees are ready to pollinate the new blossoms, but sadly, the rusty patched bumble bee may not be around to pollinate much longer. The rusty patched bumble bee is one of 47 species of bee native to North America. These bees are “buzz pollinators,” which means they cling tightly to a flower and vibrate their flight muscles to collect pollen. In this way, the bees pollinate blueberries, cranberries, clover, and tomatoes. Once ranging from North Dakota to Maine and Quebec and as far south as Georgia, the bee’s population has declined by 87 percent
since the 1990s. Experts now consider the rusty patched bumble bee to be on the brink of extinction. President Obama made the rusty patched bumble bee a priority by placing it on the endangered species list in January. The reasons for the bee’s decline are not fully understood, but it is hypothesized that habitat loss, diseases, parasites, pesticides, pollution, and climate change may have something to do with it. Not all hope is lost. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has some suggestions for stopping the bee’s decline. Individuals can plant native flowers, limit their use of pesticides, and avoid cutting grass and garden plants after summer to provide a habitat for bees during the winter. This, along with the critically
endangered species status, may prevent the bee from extinction, and even increase future populations.
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