Pledge Status
Complete
Pledge Date
Thursday, January 5, 2023
Program Year
2023
Achievement
2023
Links and Uploads
View Links and UploadsAction Item Report
Community Spotlight
Elm Street Green Meadow
Zionsville has over 700 acres of parkland, most in a natural state with floodplain, forests and restored pollinator meadows such as at Elm Street Green.
New Habitat Restoration at Zionsville Golf Course
In 2023, 2 acres of Zionsville Golf Course rough were restored as a pollinator meadow.
Carpenter Nature Preserve
In 2023 the Zionsville Parks and Recreation Department purchased the 215-acre former Wolf Run Golf Course. The future Carpenter Nature Preserve will feature Eagle Creek floodplain, open forest and prairie habitats.
Action Items Committed for 2023
- Create a community art project to enhance and promote monarch and pollinator conservation as well as cultural awareness and recognition.
- 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.
- 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 community garden groups and urge them to plant native milkweeds and nectar-producing plants.
- 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.)
- Display educational signage at monarch gardens and pollinator habitat.
- Launch, expand, or continue an invasive species removal program that will support the re-establishment of native habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
- 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).
- 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).
- Plant milkweed and pollinator-friendly native nectar plants along roadsides, medians, or public rights-of-way.
- Plant or maintain a monarch and pollinator-friendly demonstration garden at City Hall or another prominent or culturally significant community location.
- Facilitate or support a milkweed seed collection and propagation effort.
- Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
- 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor John Stehr | 2024 | 1/31/2024 | View Pledge | |
| Mayor Emily Styron | 2023 | 1/5/2023 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
| Mayor Emily Styron | 2022 | 2/1/2022 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
| Mayor Emily Styron | 2021 | 12/10/2020 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
