Community Profile

Pledge Status

Request for More Info

Pledge Date

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Program Year

2021

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Action Item Report

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City of Arkansas City

Arkansas City, KS

Scott Rogers

Mayor

Pledge Summary

Arkansas City is a city in south-central Kansas, just north of the Oklahoma state line, with a population of roughly 12,000. The city lies between the Arkansas and Walnut rivers and is home to 18 parks and recreation areas, plus 8 miles of paved walking and bicycle trails. Ark City lies along the monarchs' annual migration route to Mexico and as such, the City Commission has committed to helping to save the monarch butterfly and other pollinators with his signing of the Mayors' Monarch Pledge. The Beautification and Tree Advisory Board looks forward to engaging residents and Pollinator Project partner agencies in building more pollinator habitat throughout the city.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2021

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
  • Convert vacant lots to monarch habitat.
  • Host or support a monarch neighborhood challenge to engage neighborhoods and homeowners' associations within the community to increase awareness, support community unity around a common mission, and/or create habitat for the monarch butterfly.

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.
  • Integrate monarch butterfly conservation into the city’s Park Master Plan, Sustainability Plan, Climate Resiliency Plan or other city plans.