On August 1, 2020, volunteer members of the AYLUS Raritan Valley Branch returned to the East Brunswick Butterfly Park. This award-winning butterfly park is the very first municipal park in New Jersey for butterfly conservation and education. Frequented by more than 50 species of butterflies over the years, the Butterfly Park has provided fond memories for many local residents, young and old.
Since it was built in 2002, the park has been maintained and improved by volunteers under the guidance of the Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission. While the focus was to tidy up the park when we came 3 weeks ago, this time we had our green thumbs trained and in action. Mrs. M from the Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission met us at the park. Through Mrs. M’s demonstration, we learned how to identify poison ivy and deal with poison ivy rash, what milkweed plants look like (which is the only plant that monarch caterpillars eat), which plants are Queen Anne’s Lace (a host plant for black swallowtail butterflies), and which plants need to be removed such as stiltgrass and prickers. We went right into action with this knowledge. While making sure to keep milkweed and Queen Anne’s Lace plants in place and to stay away from poison ivy, we removed prickers, cleared plant beds that were covered under stiltgrass, and added new plants to the park such as Lemon Verbena plants. Seeing the much neater plant beds without weeds and the new plants that just moved in, we felt nothing but happy and proud.
Volunteers: Benjamin Hong (2 hours), Tarun Sivakumar (2 hours), Amy Xu (2 hours), Kevin Xu (2 hours), Jessica Hong (2 hours)
