Tonight at 6:30 p.m. at McLaughlin-Norcross Memorial Dell, Haddon Lake Park, Haddon Heights, the Board of Commissioners and Camden County Certified Gardeners will come together for their annual Save the Monarch event, aimed at raising awareness and encouraging action to protect the monarch butterfly and its declining population. The event will feature the release of more than 400 adult monarch butterflies, and attendees will also have the opportunity to take home a milkweed plant of their own.
“The monarch butterfly is critical to our local ecosystem, but unfortunately, habitat loss and climate change continue to threaten their populations,” Commissioner Jeffrey Nash said. “By planting milkweed and creating habitats where monarchs can feed, reproduce and thrive, we can all do our part to help preserve the monarch for future generations.”
Camden County has worked to expand habitats for local monarchs by installing waystations throughout the county. These waystations are equipped with milkweed, which are the only host plants for monarch caterpillars, as well as nectar producing plants that provide an important food source for adult monarch butterflies.