Pledge Status
Complete
Pledge Date
Friday, December 4, 2020
Program Year
2021
Achievement
2021
Links and Uploads
View Links and UploadsAction Item Report
Community Spotlight
Free Signs for Monarch Gardens
In Northbrook, residential gardens that sustain Monarchs during their annual migration are eligible to receive a “Let’s Make Northbrook a Monarch Way Station” garden sign.
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Earth-Friendly Food Growing Education
Northbrook installed a vegetable garden between our Village Hall and Library that provides educational workshops to inform residents on how to grow food without pesticides. The harvest is donated to our local food pantry.
Invasive Species Removal Programs
In 2023, Northbrook advanced its invasive species removal initiative by launching a Village webpage with guidelines for identifying and removing invasive plants, and started a comprehensive enforcement program for better compliance.
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Village Hall Demonstration Rain Garden
The Village Hall Demonstration Garden was revitalized in 2020 as part of the Mayors Monarch Pledge, featuring diverse native plants and is being monitored through the Field Museum's Community Science Monarch project.
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Sustainable Pest Management Policy
Beginning summer 2023, all Village-maintained landscaping shall comply with a sustainability policy to curb the usage of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers.
Native Plant Giveaways
In 2026, the Village distributed 210 native trees and shrubs, along with 644 native plant plugs.
Action Items Committed for 2021
- 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 developers, planners, landscape architects, and other community leaders and organizers engaged in planning processes to identify opportunities to create monarch habitat.
- Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
- Plant or maintain a monarch and pollinator-friendly demonstration garden at City Hall or another prominent or culturally significant community location.
- Launch or maintain an outdoor education program(s) (e.g., at schools, after-school programs, community centers and groups) that builds awareness and creates habitat by engaging students, educators, and the community in planting native milkweed and pollinator-friendly native nectar plants (i.e., National Wildlife Federation’s Schoolyard Habitats program and Monarch Mission curriculum).
- Initiate or support community science (or citizen science) efforts that help monitor monarch migration and health.
- Launch, expand, or continue an invasive species removal program that will support the re-establishment of native habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
- Display educational signage at monarch gardens and pollinator habitat.
- Change weed or mowing ordinances to allow for native prairie and plant habitats.
- Integrate monarch butterfly conservation into the city’s Park Master Plan, Sustainability Plan, Climate Resiliency Plan or other city plans.
Past Pledge Archive
| Mayor Name | Program Year | Pledge Date | Achievement | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Village President Kathryn Ciesla | 2026 | 4/6/2026 | View Pledge | |
| Mayor Kathryn Ciesla | 2025 | 1/13/2025 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
| Village President Kathryn Ciesla | 2024 | 3/28/2024 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
| Village President Kathryn Ciesla | 2023 | 2/1/2023 | Monarch Champions | View Pledge |
| Village President Kathryn Ciesla | 2022 | 1/19/2022 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
| Village President Kathryn Ciesla | 2021 | 12/4/2020 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
