Camden County could become haven for endangered monarch butterflies
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) -- Two hundred Monarch butterflies took flight at Cooper River Park in Cherry Hill Tuesday night as officials say they want to help the endangered species thrive.
Camden County officials and Certified Gardeners said they will be installing waystations equipped with milkweed across the county.
They said monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed and as pollinators, they're needed for the reproduction of flowering plants and the production of food crops.
Monarch caterpillars can only be hosted on plants in the milkweed plant, County Commissioner Jonathan Young said.
Summer generations of Monarch butterflies live between two and four weeks and migratory Monarchs can live up to nine months. They roost on pine, fir and cedar trees overnight.
Migratory monarch butterflies were placed on the endangered species list last year.
"Monarch butterflies are an ecoindicator, which means when you stop seeing [them], you know something is going wrong with the ecology in the world," certified gardener Karen Hickey said at the event. "We've stopped seeing monarch butterflies as much as we used to see."
The first milkweed waystations will be installed in September at Cooper River Park and Newton Lake Park.
Attendees at the event were sent home with a milkweed seed packet so they can create a waystation in their backyard.
"Unfortunately, like so many other precious species on earth, the monarch butterfly is falling victim to climate change, mainly due to the wide destruction of the milkweed plant," Young said in a news release. "Camden County is leading the charge to save them from this bleak future and encourage our residents to get involved in this initiative because together, we can make a difference."