For Immediate Release, December 16, 2020 Contact: Lori Ann Burd, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6405, laburd@biologicaldiversity.org Tom Casey, Friends of Minnesota Scientific and Natural Areas, (952) 472-1099, tcasey@frontiernet.net. Lawsuit Launched to Protect Habitat for Critically Endangered Rusty Patched Bumblebee WASHINGTON— NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of Minnesota Scientific and Natural Areas today issued a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for refusing to designate critical habitat for the highly endangered rusty patched bumblebee. Despite the bee’s disappearance from 87% of its native range, the Service announced in September that designating critical habitat for the species was “not prudent,” claiming that availability of habitat does not limit the bee’s conservation. The decision contradicted the agency’s own findings that habitat loss and degradation have contributed to the bee’s decline, worsened by the widespread use of insecticides and herbicides that directly kill the bee and the wildflowers it needs to survive.