Community Profile

Pledge Status

Complete

Pledge Date

Monday, January 13, 2025

Program Year

2025

Achievement

Signatories

2025

Links and Uploads

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Action Item Report

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City of Covington

Covington, KY

Ron Washington

Mayor

Pledge Summary

Covington, located in Northern Kentucky across the river from Cincinnati, is home to over 40,000 residents and the beautiful 700-acre Devou Park, known for its prairies and pollinator gardens. The city also features pollinator gardens throughout its parks, showcasing a strong commitment to environmental conservation. In 2017, Covington joined the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge under former Mayor Joseph Meyer, launching efforts to support pollinator habitats. Mayor Ron Washington has proudly continued this legacy, reaffirming the city’s pledge in 2025 and leading the charge with the Community Monarch Coalition to expand gardens and implement impactful conservation initiatives.

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Community Spotlight

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Mission: Save the Monarch

Loss of habitat and use of herbicides has greatly decreased Covington's numbers in Monarch butterflies, so the City joined many others in a widespread push organized by the National Wildlife Federation to reverse the downward trend.

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Action Items Committed for 2025

Communications and Convening

  • 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.

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.
  • 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).
  • Add or maintain native milkweed and nectar-producing plants in gardens in the community.