My encounters with Mother Nature’s critters is alas, not always pretty: I’ve had to match wits against wily coyotes, eager beavers, (any four-letter-word) moles and, my latest challenge, armies of box elder bugs that have become so persistently invasive, I’ve been known to stalk, chase, then swoop-up and squash these pests with the sort of ferocity Kong displayed when tiny intruders dared to invade his Skull Island.
But this time I’m writing about a battle we should all be involved in to save one of our environment’s most productive little creatures.
Once a common sight in Kane County, the rusty patched bumble bee – fancy name, bombus affinis – has become the first variety of bumble bee in the United States to be placed on the endangered species list. In fact, only two states have any other type of bee on their endangered lists at all.
Those small, hard-working pollinators play a huge part in our ecosystem. But as you probably know if you’ve been paying any attention to news in the last decade that does not involve the Kardashians or Russian spies, bees seem to be vanishing before our eyes.
Once common across 28 states, the rusty patched bumblebee has been disappearing since the late 1990s. They were likely the first bee to go, noted Ben Haberthur, director of natural resources for Kane County Forest Preserve, because they were more sensitive to some of the culprits behind this mysterious vanishing act, including loss of habitat, disease and parasites, use of pesticides and climate change.
And because the rusty patched bumblebees’ numbers plummeted almost 90 percent, leaving small scattered populations in only 13 states – Illinois included – the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally listed it on the endangered list March 21 after only a couple of months of discussion.
Local conservationists have not been sitting around twiddling thumbs while this has been going on. In October, DuPage, Kendall and Kane county forest preserves, as well as Fox Valley and Oswegoland park districts, Campton and Dundee townships and Fermilab took advantage of a $250,000 grant to the Naperville-based Conservation Foundation to establish and restore 975 acres of monarch habitat along the Fox River that will connect breeding and migration habitats for the also-vanishing monarch butterflies and other precious pollinators.
And in February, Kane County hosted a beekeeping town hall meeting to discuss how beekeepers and local government can work together to develop and sustain the bee population.
At the Fox Valley Park District’s Red Oak Nature Center, volunteers help eliminate non-native trees, shrubs and plants to increase and maintain biodiversity in its 40 acres of woodlands, according to Manager and Naturalist Margaret Gazdacka.
“We love seeing the spring wildflowers pop up every year. It’s like we’re seeing an old friend again,” she said. “It’s especially rewarding to see flowers in areas we worked so hard to clear in the winter.”
Maintaining a native ecosystem is key to its management plan, added Gazdacka, which is why they minimize herbicide use to only when its necessary and “never use pesticides in our woods.”
Red Oak also received a grant last year to update its bird garden with the Junior Naturalists after-school club. “Our goal is to help all pollinators,” she noted. “We also hope that visitors will see what we have done and will be inspired to do it in their own back yard as well.”
It’s critical, say local conservationists, that we all do our part because these natural areas are few and far between for these pollinators. The best way to help? Grow flowers, including flowering shrubs and trees. And make sure you mix things up, with something in bloom from early spring through the fall, insisted Haberthur. Also, use native plants, making sure to include native milkweeds for monarch butterflies.
“You don’t have to live on acreage to make a difference,” he added. “Even patio containers can provide nectar and pollen for native bees.”
There are several sales sponsored by local conservation groups that will give you a chance to purchase these critical native plants. Northern Kane County Wild Ones is having its annual sale from 10 a.m. to p.m. May 6 at Hawthorn Hills, 28 Brookside Drive in Elgin; and Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee will hold a sale from noon to 3 p.m. May 7 at McHenry County College.
“Our yards play such an essential role in this critical food chain,” said Wild Ones volunteer June Keibler, “because these pollinators – bees, butterflies and birds – all need stopover places so they don’t have to travel so far.”
Because bumblebees and other pollinators need a safe place to build their nests and overwinter, it’s also important to leave areas in your yard unmowed in summer and unraked in fall, experts say. And leave standing plant stems for winter in your garden and flower beds.
And of course, limit use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
“I’m so glad the rusty patched bumblebee has been put on the endangered species list,” said Keibler. The fact that this bee species is still in Kane County, she added, “gives us a great chance to do the right thing.”
