What's Right In Front Of Us

A milkweed plant in autumn

Many have heard that milkweed is key to the survival of the monarch butterfly.

My fellow outdoor writer, Chris Paparo (aka, The Fish Guy), Marine Sciences Center Manager at Stony Brook University, and President of the New York State Outdoor Writers Association, posted two neat videos (with some good conservation advice) on the monarch butterfly migration. You can view them on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/fishguyphotos/videos/1008265010506841/

https://www.facebook.com/fishguyphotos/videos/981992599635178 

But did you also know, the milkweed plant played a significant role in the American war effort during WWII? Here’s an article explaining milkweed's part in the war effort in an article by Bill Bower, a retired Pennsylvania Wildlife Officer, writing in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Well worth the ~1-minute read:

https://www.sungazette.com/news/outdoors/2021/08/reflections-in-nature-milkweed-plant-was-important-during-world-war-ii/

Often, we stare in wonder at trees and the tall hills around us during the fall, but sometimes, we miss what was right there before us--so much closer--all along.

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