On Saturday, June 8th, Marine Park Alliance (MPA) Volunteer Day, a hardy group of volunteers gathered at the Marine Park Avenue U meadow, located by the shoreline side of the park, to weed, clean and plant dozens of milkweed plants for migrating monarch butterflies.
“Today, we are planting for the monarch butterfly, an endangered species at this point, and when they fly through, they need something to eat, so we are planting milkweed; it’s the only thing that they eat,” MPA board member Margot Perron said.
She said that this is the time of year when the monarch butterflies migrate along the Atlantic Flyway, from upper Canada down to Mexico along our coastline. They are becoming endangered due to development and loss of habitat.
They were joined by Retired Chief Naturalist of the Parks Department Mike Feller who gave instructions and helped prepare the area by pre-drilling holes for the careful placement of the milkweed plants by volunteers.
Most of the volunteers were students from Midwood, Brooklyn Tech, Bay Academy and a few other schools. After planting, they pulled out weeds, with special attention to bedstraw, an invasive plant that forms a mat that blocks sunlight from other plants. There were enough weeds and garbage to fill five large trash bags when they were finished. Other volunteers were performing similar tasks all around the park.
According to Perron, during the pandemic in 2020, restoration work began in the area by MPA volunteers. Previously, there was a green wall of invasive weeds, plants and trees that blocked the view of the beautiful shoreline, which can now be enjoyed by passing motorists and visitors to the park across the street on Avenue U.
In the end, the Avenue U meadow was well on its way to becoming the Avenue U monarch butterfly meadow.
