Rare Bumblebee Found in Western Oregon [VIDEO]

A stronghold of the garden-friendly western bumblebee, which mysteriously disappeared west of the Cascade mountain range about 15 years ago, has been found in western Oregon.

The location of the bees is the westernmost location for a colony known in the state, according to the Xerces Society, a non-profit group dedicated to the conservation of bees.

Western bumblebees are increasingly rare, but they once were one of the most common pollinators in the west. During the 1990s it was likely that any tomato or pepper grown in the Willamette Valley was pollinated by the inch-long white-bottomed bees.

"In the last 15 years there have only been about 15 sightings of this bumblebee west of the Cascades," said Xerces Society biologist Rich Hatfield, who spent six weeks this summer identifying bumblebee species in the Mount Hood National Forest . "This discovery suggests that this species might have a chance to repopulate its range."

It took Hatfield four weeks of combing through the forest before he discovered just a dozen of the bees.

"One out of every three bites of food that we eat comes from a plant that was pollinated by an animal, and usually those animals are bees," Hatfield said in a statement published by the Oregon Zoo. "The fact that any bee could disappear is a scary proposition. We're approaching a tipping point where our food security will be at stake."

Introduced pathogens are the leading suspect of the rampant bumblebee decline, however common pesticides are capable of wiping out entire colonies. Earlier this summer tens of thousands of bees were killed in a Target parking lot when a common pesticide was sprayed on trees there.

Bees are key players in the food system, but rampant colony loss has implications beyond food production.

Pollinators are critically important to the function of many ecosystems," said David Shepherdson, Oregon Zoo deputy conservation manager. "They provide the seeds and berries that feed our songbirds and mammals. Protecting pollinators helps to protect all wildlife."

Hatfield said the western bumblebee should be seen as a red flag.

"Their disappearance is not a natural process. But the thing that gives me hope is that if their disappearance is caused by people, maybe we can do something to reduce or reverse it," Hatfield said.

Hatfield's study also provided a never-before-seen photo. By using a laser-triggered shutter and a flash that fires at 1/50,000th of a second, Oregon Zoo photographer Michael Durham captured what is believed to be the first high-speed photo of a western bumblebee in flight.