Dear Neighbor,

                My name is Reed Jamison. I am 10 years old. I live on Brookside Drive. I’m a Cub Scout with Pack 196 in Bedminster. I am going into 5th grade. I love to eat lots of different vegetables. I plan veggie nights for my family a lot. I also love Monarch Butterflies. I like to raise them and release them once they have emerged from their chrysalis. The most important thing when raising Monarchs is milkweed. It is their only food source. The caterpillars cannot eat anything else. Milkweed is a very important plant in our environment.

Ladybugs like milkweed. They are very important because they eat aphids. Aphids can destroy our flower and vegetable gardens by eating all the leaves and damaging the stems. They also will infest a milkweed plant and make it so other insects cannot live on or eat the plant (THEY EAT THE EGGS!!!). One ladybug can eat an entire nest of aphids ( ̴ 50) in less than one day.

Milkweed is also important to bees. They use the pollen to help pollenate flowers and vegetables. The bees also like to eat the nectar since it is so full of nutrients only produced by milkweed that insects need to survive.

We have a large amount of milkweed trying to grow in the meadow next to the path between Goldenrod Court and Steeplebush Drive. The township keeps mowing it down, so the Monarchs in our area don’t have any food for their caterpillars. They also have trouble finding safe food around our area because the milkweed is being sprayed with fertilizer and pesticides. The Monarchs can only eat untreated milkweed, or they will die before they become butterflies. They can’t even eat it if it is treated with Miracle-Gro.

Will you please sign my petition so I can ask Hilltown Township to stop mowing down the milkweed?

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and sign my petition.

Reed Jamison