For over 5 years, the East Peoria Community High School HOPE Club has been working with the Army Core of Engineers to harvest and distribute native wildflower seeds near Farmdale Dam in East Peoria. HOPE Club (an acronym for Healing Our Planet’s Environment) is an environmental club that was founded 25 years ago by EPCHS science teacher Martin Hobbs. Some of those wildflowers are milkweed, an important plant that attracts many pollinators including monarch butterflies. Due to widespread herbicide use, milkweed, the only plant monarch larvae will eat, is becoming much more scarce. As a result, monarch populations have decreased by over 80% over the last 2 decades. HOPE Club and EP Green have distributed thousands of these milkweed seeds to interested community members. If you are interested in acquiring some of these milkweed seeds, please contact Bob Jorgensen at jestpr@aol.com or Martin Hobbs at mhobbs@ep309.org.