Community Profile

Pledge Status

Active

Pledge Date

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Program Year

2024

Links and Uploads

View Links and Uploads

Action Item Report

Download Report

Concord, North Carolina, USA

Concord, NC

William Dusch

Mayor

Pledge Summary

Concord, North Carolina, population 108,000, is the 10th largest and 6th fastest growing city in the state of NC. Concord is also a NWF Community Wildlife Habitat that partners with the community to deliver excellent service, and plans for the future while preserving, protecting, and enhancing the quality of life. Concord is concerned about its natural, historic, economic, and aesthetic resources and work to preserve and enhance them for future generations. Mayor Dusch is making the pledge to ensure Concord is a welcoming place for pollinators.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2024

Communications and Convening

  • Issue a proclamation to raise awareness about the decline of the monarch butterfly and the species’ need for habitat. This proclamation must incorporate a focus on monarch conservation.
  • 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 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 Homeowners Associations (HOAs), Community Associations or neighborhood organizations to identify opportunities to plant monarch gardens and revise maintenance and mowing programs.
  • 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.
  • Plant or maintain a monarch and pollinator-friendly demonstration garden at City Hall or another prominent or culturally significant community location.
  • 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).
  • Host or support a monarch butterfly festival that is accessible to all residents in the community and promotes monarch and pollinator conservation, as well as cultural awareness and recognition.
  • Display educational signage at monarch gardens and pollinator habitat.

Systems Change

  • Launch, expand, or continue an effort to change municipal planting ordinances and practices to include more native milkweed and native nectar producing plants at city properties.