I have not seen where the Hempfield Township supervisors, in their infinite collective wisdoms and forethoughts, saved the monarch caterpillars’ chrysalis and milkweed before leveling the ground for the new Weatherwood Park and municipal complex. Monarchs’ larvae/caterpillar only have milkweed as the host (to eat); adult monarchs feed on a wide variety of nectar-bearing flowers, being pollinators, as well as the bees.
Has a monarch habitat been destroyed? If destroyed, have milkweed plugs/pods been obtained for the new habitat? Has a section of this park been designated as an educational pollinator habitat? Environmentally, might we the people expect a “green area?” Hempfield supervisors, have you contributed to the pending extinction of the monarch butterfly?
In July 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature added the monarch butterfly to its Red List of Threatened Species, classifying it as endangered. This was the first time the monarch butterfly was officially recognized as being at risk of extinction.
There are people in Hempfield/Westmoreland County whose properties have been designated as monarch waystations. Maybe a provision for any new development should be an area of wildflowers and butterfly milkweed for all pollinators.
Beth Garlitz
Greensburg