Researchers from the Xerces Society, the ABQ BioPark, and the IUCN Firefly Specialist Group evaluated the extinction risk of 128 firefly species in the U.S. and Canada using the criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Fourteen species were assessed as being threatened.
Advocacy & Activism
Two new bills intended to bring much-needed funding for conservation efforts for the monarch butterfly are being introduced into Congress today. Together, the Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat Act and the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act will provide millions of dollars to support conservation projects.
In a major victory for local residents and wildlife, the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) issued an emergency order to stop wastewater discharge by an ethanol plant that is processing pesticide-treated seed. For over two years, residents of Mead have reported mysterious odors and strange illnesses in people and pets. Bees and other wildlife have also suffered. This has been linked to high levels of pesticide contamination from the ethanol plant.
The Xerces Society, Center for Food Safety, and Defenders of Wildlife, represented by Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, announced they are appealing a November 2020 decision by the Sacramento County Superior Court that determined that the California Fish and Game Commission lacks authority to list four threatened bumble bee species as candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act.
On Tuesday, 12/15/20, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that listing the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act is warranted, but precluded by other priorities. This decision does not provide the protection that monarchs, and especially the western population, so desperately need to recover.
In issuing this ruling, the Court not only removed protection from the four sensitive bumble bee species in question, but took away future prospects for much needed protection from the State’s many imperiled insects.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation filed a petition today seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the imperiled Siuslaw hairy-necked tiger beetle.
The EPA’s decision to reauthorize the use of dicamba herbicides, despite strong evidence that they cause extensive off-target damage to crops, native plants, pollinators and other wildlife, poses serious risks for people, native plants, and wildlife alike.
A group of health and environmental organizations filed a legal petition today, calling upon the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to regulate the planting of crop seeds coated with neurotoxic neonicotinoid insecticides (neonics) and close a loophole that allows the unchecked use of neonic-treated seeds in California’s farms. The petition follows a scientific report released today finding these seeds may result in the use of over half a million pounds of unregulated pesticides per year in the state.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation today filed a petition seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the western ridged mussel. The western ridged mussel, which can live for many decades in rivers and streams in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, and Nevada, has been extirpated from 43% of its historic range.
As the Environmental Protection Agency prepares to determine whether to renew dicamba product registrations for the 2021 growing season, a new report details how the herbicides pose serious threats to wild plants and the wildlife that depend upon them. The report from the National Wildlife Federation, Prairie Rivers Network and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Drifting Toward Disaster: How Dicamba Herbicides are Harming Cultivated and Wild Landscapes, reviews the state of the science on the potential far-reaching impacts of dicamba use.
In response to a petition filed by the Xerces Society in 2012, today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized listing the island marble butterfly as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act and designated critical habitat.
The World Wildlife Fund-Mexico and the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas announced today that monarchs in central Mexico occupied an estimated 2.83 hectares of forest during the winter of 2019–2020, a reduction of approximately 53 percent from last winter.
Responding to an emergency petition filed by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a positive 90-day finding for the Bethany Beach firefly and is initiating a full status review of the species.
The Xerces Society and the late Dr. Robbin Thorp, Professor Emeritus at University of California–Davis, formally petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Franklin’s bumble bee in 2010.
New paper published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice details why we need to take greater action to curb the global decline in insects.
California Fish and Game Commission vote comes in the wake of United Nations report finding that one million species are at risk of global extinction.
Ongoing construction at the Tower Shores development continues to destroy important habitat for the Bethany Beach firefly’s strongest remaining population.
Conservation and food safety groups filed a petition with the California Fish and Game Commission to list four species of native bumble bees—western bumble bee, Franklin’s bumble bee, Crotch’s bumble bee and the Suckley cuckoo bumble bee—as Endangered under California’s Endangered Species Act.
More than 15 years after the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation initially submitted a petition asking for federal protection for the island marble, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced today that the butterfly warrants protection as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.
Today, protection of the rusty patched bumble bee under the Endangered Species Act takes effect, making this the first bee in the continental United States to be federally protected. This historic moment comes as a result of a listing petition filed by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Steps can now be taken to work toward the recovery of this species, which previously was common from Minnesota to the Atlantic.
January 10, 2017—Responding to a petition from the Xerces Society, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will list the rusty patched bumble bee as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, making it the first bee in the continental United States to receive such protection. The decision will be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, January 11.
Responding to a petition from the Xerces Society, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed listing the rusty patched bumble bee as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The decision will be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, September 22. Once finalized, the rusty patched bumble bee will be the first bee in the continental U.S. to receive Endangered Species Act protection.
Today, Day’s Edge Productions releases A Ghost In the Making: Searching for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, an enchanting short film about the disappearance of the rusty patched bumble bee and one man’s journey to find out what’s happened to it. After being received with acclaim at film festivals this spring, the film is now available for anyone to view online.
Last night, with a vote of 4 to 1, the City Council of Milwaukie, Oregon, passed a resolution to help protect and restore bees and other pollinators. The resolution will halt the use of neonicotinoids and other like insecticides on public property within city limits. Clackamas County’s integrated pest management plan will mirror the resolution, meaning the suspension of use will extend beyond city limits.
Today, a group of ten monarch researchers and conservationists from across the U.S. issued a statement highlighting concerns with the release of commercially raised and other mass-reared monarch butterflies and recommended against the practice. Wild monarch butterfly populations have declined by an estimated 90% in the past two decades, due to habitat loss primarily in the Midwestern U.S., where these migratory butterflies spend the summer months. Monarch butterflies are routinely purchased from commercial growers for release at weddings, funerals, and other celebrations, and to raise in classrooms and exhibits for educational purposes. Out of concern for monarch conservation, some private citizens are also rearing hundreds to thousands of monarchs in backyard operations for release into the wild.
In response to petitions from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) proposed today that seven species of Hawaiian yellow-faced bees be listed as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. When the proposed rule is finalized, these will be the first bees to gain federal protection in the United States.
Responding to a petition from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) today issued a positive 90-day finding for the rusty patched bumble bee, determining that protection under the Endangered Species Act may be warranted and initiating a status review of the species. This action resulted from a settlement agreement between the Xerces Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council and USFWS.
The Xerces Society applauds the White House for the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators released today. Pollinators are an essential part of both productive agriculture and a healthy environment and the White House’s action places their protection squarely on the national stage. Protecting, restoring, and enhancing habitat for bees and butterflies, including the monarch, is a major focus of this national strategy.
Today Portland City Council unanimously passed an ordinance to halt the use and purchase of neonicotinoids, and other like systemic insecticides, on city property. The ordinance also amends the city’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies, phases out the purchase of neonicotinoid-treated plants and nursery stock by the city, and urges local retailers to label plants containing neonicotinoids.
A newly completed assessment has found that monarch butterflies in North America are vulnerable to extinction. The assessment was undertaken by NatureServe and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and results were published in a report released by the U.S. Forest Service yesterday.
In response to a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, Xerces Society and renowned monarch scientist Dr. Lincoln Brower, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said today that Endangered Species Act protection may be warranted for monarch butterflies. The agency will now conduct a one-year status review on monarchs, which have declined by 90 percent in the past 20 years.
On Wednesday, a special Task Force on Pollinator Health delivered a series of recommendations to the Oregon legislature on how to help the state’s honey bees, native bees and other pollinators. The task force’s recommendations have the potential to make improvements for pollinators, but fall short of meaningful policy solutions to address the clear threat that neonicotinoid insecticides pose to pollinators.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety as co-lead petitioners joined by the Xerces Society and renowned monarch scientist Dr. Lincoln Brower filed a legal petition today to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking Endangered Species Act protection for monarch butterflies, which have declined by more than 90 percent in under 20 years. During the same period it is estimated that these once-common iconic orange and black butterflies may have lost more than 165 million acres of habitat — an area about the size of Texas — including nearly a third of their summer breeding grounds.
Responding to a petition from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has issued a positive 90-day finding for the island marble butterfly, to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, August 19, determining that protection may be warranted and initiating a status review of the species. This action resulted from a settlement agreement between the Xerces Society and USFWS.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation together with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a complaint today against the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking them to take action on a petition to grant Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection to the rusty patched bumble bee. The rusty patched bumble bee is not only an important pollinator of prairie wildflowers, but also of cranberries, blueberries, apples, alfalfa, and numerous other crops. This bee was previously common across the Upper Midwest and Eastern Seaboard, but in recent years it has been lost from 87% of its historic range.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that it will manage mosquitoes on the approximately 300 acres of the Ni-les’tun Unit of the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge using only the biological pesticide Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) to kill mosquito larvae, until the breeding habitat created inadvertently during a restoration project in 2011 has been remediated.
Scott Black, executive director of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, attended the White House Pollinator Initiative Stakeholder meeting Wednesday, and provided oral and written comments on how the White House can protect the diverse array of pollinators.
In a letter delivered to the White House on Monday, leading monarch scientists, farmers, and educators asked President Obama and the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to direct five federal agencies, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, Farm Service Agency and Bureau of Land Management, to establish a monarch butterfly recovery initiative to restore habitat for this species on both public and private lands.
The Xerces Society and partners provide comprehensive comments on the proposed use of insecticides to control native burrowing shrimp in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. The comments are in response to the Washington State Department of Ecology’s proposal to develop an Environmental Impact Statement for use of the toxic neonicotinoid imidacloprid for the control of two species of native burrowing shrimp, Neotrypaea californiensis and Upogebia pugettensis, on commercial shellfish beds in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor.
On February 13, 2014, the Xerces Society and NRDC filed a notice of intent to sue the Secretary of the Interior for failure to respond to a petition to list the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The rusty patched bumble bee is an important pollinator of cranberries, plums, apples, alfalfa, and numerous other crops and wildflowers. Historically, it was found across the Upper Midwest and Eastern Seaboard, but in recent years it has been lost from 87% of its historic range and its abundance relative to other bumble bees has declined by 95%.
In response to four separate bee die-offs last summer that killed approximately 55,000 bumble bees, new legislation seeks solutions protect pollinators from insecticides. Save Oregon’s Pollinators Act (House Bill 4139) will get its first hearing with the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in Salem on Tuesday February 11th.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) today released a report outlining their findings that several bumble bee kills in 2013 were caused by two neonicotinoid insecticides, dinotefuran and imidacloprid. ODA has levied fines because of negligence on the part of applicators totaling $2,886 for bee kills in Wilsonville, downtown Portland and West Linn. No fines were levied in an incident in Hillsboro.
Leading conservation and science voices renewed their call today for a key federal agency to protect bumble bees in light of numerous threats contributing to population declines. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Defenders of Wildlife and Dr. Robbin Thorp asked the Secretary of Agriculture to take action on a petition to regulate the movement of commercial bumble bees in order to help control the spread of parasites and pathogens to wild bumble bees—at least one species of which may have already been driven to extinction.
A report released today by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation moves the spotlight from the risks neonicotinoids pose to bees to the impacts of neonicotinoids to invertebrates such as earthworms or lady beetles.
The Xerces Society applauds Coos County commissioners for canceling proposed aerial spraying of 10,000 acres around Bandon Marsh NWR. Concerns remain over treatment of the marsh itself.
- Read more about Majority of residents at public meeting speak out against Bandon Marsh spraying plan
Local residents packed a town hall meeting to express their opposition to spraying Bandon Marsh NWR for the control of nuisance mosquitos. The Xerces Society supports local residents in their opposition to this misguided and likely illegal spraying plan.
A scientist from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation will be attending the public meeting arranged by Coos County later today to join members of the Bandon community in speaking out against the mosquito control spraying proposed for the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation urges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service not to spray Bandon Marsh NWR for the control of nuisance mosquitos because the treatment will harm wildlife, cause disruption to the refuge ecosystem, and will likely not be an effective way to manage mosquitoes.
oday, Representative Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) joined Representative John Conyers (MI-13) in introducing The Save America’s Pollinators Act. The legislation suspends certain uses of neonicotinoids, a particular type of pesticide that is suspected to play a role in the bee die-offs happening in Oregon and around the world, until the Environmental Protection Agency reviews these chemicals and makes a new determination about their proper application and safe use. Dinotefuran, the neonicotinoid ingredient found in Safari insecticide, is blamed for last month’s mass die-off of an estimated 50,000 bumble bees in Wilsonville, OR – the largest such die-off ever recorded. The Oregon Department of Agriculture is investigating the die-off and is temporarily restricting the use of 18 pesticide products containing dinotefuran.
After the mass poisoning of over 50,000 bumble bees last week in Wilsonville, Oregon and other incidents now being reported in neighboring Washington County, scientists are calling on local officials to ban the cosmetic use of insecticides on city- and county-owned lands. The mass poisoning is the largest event of its kind ever documented, with an estimated impact on more than 300 wild bumble bee colonies.
Scientists investigating the mass death of bumble bees in Wilsonville, Oregon say that pesticides are the most likely cause. The incident first came to light on Saturday when shoppers at a Target store reported finding tens of thousands of dead bees in the store’s parking lot. News quickly spread to the Portland-based Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a group known for their international bee conservation work, who launched an investigation.
ens of thousands of bumble bees and other pollinators were found dead under trees at the Target store in Wilsonville on Monday, June 17th. The discovery was a strange and unfortunate start to National Pollinator Week, a symbolic annual event intended to raise public awareness about the plight of bees.
A new report released today by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation shows that public education and targeted mosquito management efforts are the best way to both protect communities from mosquito-borne diseases and protect wetland health.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation filed a petition today with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the rusty patched bumble bee. This animal was once very common from the Upper Midwest to the East Coast and was an important pollinator of crops and wildflowers. Recently it has undergone a precipitous decline.
On October 11, 2012, in response to a petition from the Xerces Society and partners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori) as an endangered species and designate critical habitat. This butterfly’s native prairie habitat is one of the rarest ecosystems in the U.S., with 90 to 95 percent of it lost over the past 150 years.
In comments to the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, ten other conservation groups, and several bee scientists have formally asked for protection of wild bumble bees from the threat of disease.
An extensive review of bumble bee studies and surveys from across the U.S. show that three formerly common bumble bee species are experiencing steep declines. The report compiled information from more than three dozen scientists and citizen monitors and found that populations of the rusty-patched, yellowbanded and western bumble bee have all sharply dropped in the last decade.
A new report details how the island marble butterfly is languishing without protection even though it may be on the brink of extinction. The new report lists the island marble as one of ten species that have been named the most in-need of protection under the Endangered Species Act. With a population of less than 2,000 individuals and multiple threats to its survival the island marble is one of the most imperiled butterflies in the U.S.
Susan’s purse-making caddisfly is only one of the many unique species found nowhere but in Western springs, and carefully targeted management of these habitats is essential to maintain their biological integrity and sustain the diverse species they support. Endangered Species Act protection for the caddisfly would mean that their habitat would be protected and restored.
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) along with 28 other co-sponsors introduced the Pollinator Habitat Protection Act into the Senate today. This bill allows existing conservation programs to provide enhanced habitat for pollinators.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Center for Biological Diversity, Northwest Environmental Defense Center, and Friends of the San Juans yesterday filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Seattle to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Island Marble butterfly.
A coalition of scientists and conservationists filed a petition today requesting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service extend Endangered Species Act protection to the Jackson Lake, Harney Lake, and Columbia springsnails, three relatives of the Idaho springsnail, which is currently an endangered species.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Xerces Society today filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Portland, Oregon to compel the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect seven swallowtail butterfly species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
A coalition of conservation groups today filed a scientific petition with U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton in Washington DC to list the Sand Mountain blue butterfly (Euphilotes pallescens arenamontana) as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, and designate critical habitat for its survival, conservation and recovery.
Once common throughout the northern and central Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming, the Black Hills mountainsnail has experienced significant declines over the years. Only 32 colonies are known to exist today and at over half of these colonies, the snail is considered rare. Experts agree that the snail is now considered to be critically imperiled and at risk of extinction.
Once widely distributed across the midwestern United States and south-central Canada, the Dakota skipper butterfly has experienced significant declines in the last 150 years. The butterfly has been wiped out of much of its range in Minnesota and North and South Dakota and has disappeared altogether from Iowa or Illinois. Scientific experts, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have all concluded the species is at great risk and may soon become extinct.
The Xerces Society is dedicated to the smallest of the creatures that run our world: invertebrates. Invertebrates are an overlooked segment of the animals that inhabit this earth, for while they comprise over 94% of the known animal species, they receive little public recognition and support. Many people can identify an endangered Bengal tiger, but few can identify an endangered Sand Creek tiger beetle. We want to change that. Since 1971, we have promoted projects to increase public understanding of invertebrates, while at the same working towards their protection and conservation.
In keeping with a legal agreement the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service listed the Carson wandering skipper butterfly as an endangered species on August 7, 2002. The species was listed on a temporary, emergency basis in November 2001. The Carson wandering skipper received Endangered Species status because of a listing petition by the Xerces Society, and a negotiated settlement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Center for Biological Diversity.
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