Community Profile

Pledge Status

Complete

Pledge Date

Monday, February 26, 2024

Program Year

2024

Achievement

Leadership Circle

2024

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Action Item Report

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City of Boise

Boise, ID

Lauren McLean

Mayor

Pledge Summary

The city of Boise has a robust Parks & Recreation department which is devoted to a healthy ecosystem. Pesticide reduction has been implemented over the last few years, and most city parks have beautiful pollinator gardens which are maintained by numerous volunteers. We have a Mayor's Monarch Pledge task force consisting of many city departments in addition to U.S. Fish & Wildlife, Soil & Water Conservation, Foothills Restoration, River Rewild Project, and more. Our cumulative efforts benefit our state insect, the Monarch Butterfly, and other pollinators.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2024

Communications and Convening

  • Launch or maintain a public communication effort to encourage residents to plant monarch gardens at their homes or in their neighborhoods. (If you have community members who speak a language other than English, we encourage you to also communicate in that language; Champion Pledges must communicate in that language.)
  • Engage with community garden groups and urge them to plant native milkweeds and nectar-producing plants.
  • Engage with city parks and recreation, public works, sustainability, and other relevant staff to identify opportunities to revise and maintain mowing programs and milkweed / native nectar plant planting programs.
  • Engage with gardening leaders and partners (e.g., Master Naturalists, Master Gardeners, Nature Centers, Native Plant Society Chapters , other long-standing and influential community leaders) to support monarch butterfly conservation.
  • Create a community art project to enhance and promote monarch and pollinator conservation as well as cultural awareness and recognition.

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
  • Facilitate or support a milkweed seed collection and propagation effort.
  • Earn or maintain recognition for being a wildlife-friendly city by participating in other wildlife and habitat conservation efforts (i.e., National Wildlife Federation’s Community Wildlife Habitat program).
  • Initiate or support community science (or citizen science) efforts that help monitor monarch migration and health.
  • Add or maintain native milkweed and nectar-producing plants in gardens in the community.
  • Launch, expand, or continue an invasive species removal program that will support the re-establishment of native habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.

Systems Change

  • Reduce or eliminate the use of herbicides, pesticides, or other chemicals that are harmful to monarchs and pollinators and urban wildlife.