Community Profile

City of Zion

Zion, IL

Billy McKinney

Mayor

Pledge Summary

The City of Zion is located half way between Chicago, IL and Milwaukee, WI on the state’s border and on the beautiful Lake Michigan. The population is approximately 25,000 and with rich diversity. Township Supervisor Cheri Neal has been dedicated to Monarch survival since 1999 when she started raising them and educating young and old at UW-Parkside, area schools and nursing homes. In 2018 she worked with Mayor Al Hill to designate the Zinnia as the Zion Flower, Most recently, Mayor Billy McKinney came on board and worked with the Township, the Zion Park District and Zion-Benton Public Library, passing a resolution making Zion, IL a Monarch City, USA. The Zion Park District had also taken major steps toward saving Monarchs with creating intentional spaces for them and preserving multiple varieties of milkweed in our Hosah Park. Both Mayor McKinney and Supervisor Neal are committed to saving Monarchs and other pollinators with signing the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge and are dedicated to continuing the efforts with the Zion community. The first Saturday in August has been designated as Monarch Day in Zion, IL.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2021

Communications and Convening ▸

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 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.
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).
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).
Add or maintain native milkweed and nectar-producing plants in gardens in the community.
Launch, expand, or continue an invasive species removal program that will support the re-establishment of native habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
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.

Past Pledge Archive

Mayor Name	Program Year	Pledge Date	Achievement
Mayor Billy McKinney	2021	4/10/2021		View Pledge

Pledge Status

Pledge Date

Program Year

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